Alternate
by ShearViscosity
Summary: Just when she had gotten some semblance of normal back in her life, a rather familiar looking man with a scarf shows up at the diner where she works. So on top of traveling 20 years to the past, she had also traveled to an alternate dimension that was actually a TV show. There goes any hope of being normal. Not DoctorxOC. Set mostly between Series 6 and 7 with the 11th Doctor.
1. Just My Luck

I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.

 **Just My Luck**

I don't know the exact person who invented air conditioning, but whoever they were, they should have their own monument somewhere, or even a national holiday. For the white box fan in the corner of the kitchen was barely making a dent in the humid August heat that could only be found in the Midwest.

The hot steam from the industrial dishwasher I was currently using probably wasn't helping things either. It was like being in a sauna, only with no door to step out of and into cooler air.

It was work though, and Earl, the owner of Mel's Diner—which didn't even have a Mel anywhere to be found—hadn't asked too many questions when I had shown up 155 days ago with no ID and asked to be paid in cash. He actually didn't question me at all, and I even had a sob story about being on the run from a crazy ex-boyfriend prepared. 155 days later, I've yet to see anything phase him, not even the August heat.

"Emma, did you hear me? You need to get out here and help with the tables."

Dinah, my fellow waitress and roommate, yelled, and I turned off the dishwasher in response. "Coming," I replied back, knowing full well she was already on her way out the door. I had lived with her for 154 days and had yet to see her stand still for more than a minute.

I tossed my rubber gloves off to the side and made my way to the doors that led to the eating area, but not before Ray, the head cook, shook his head at me. Pausing, I found that I was still wearing the rubber apron used for the dishes. With a quick nod of thanks, I took it off and exchanged it for my little work apron that was hanging up on the hook by the door. Normally it was Louie who washed the dishes, but he was at home recovering from getting his wisdom teeth removed leaving us short-handed with Gina home as well, except with her two kids being sick.

With a point of her pen, Dinah directed me to a table in the corner where a lone man was sitting. A coat was draped over the back of the chair across from him, indicating that he wasn't as quite alone as I had initially thought.

Wait, a coat? In this summer heat? Strange. Though given how my life has gone lately, not the strangest thing I had seen.

I made my way over to the table and pulled out my notebook ready to take an order. If only my parents could see me now, after saving for years to send me to college for a decent career here I was waiting tables.

Then again, it was hard to get a job you had studied for when your certification wouldn't be printed for another seventeen years and there were worse jobs out besides waitressing. I also couldn't complain too much at the moment, for at least out here there were two large fans overhead doing a better job at keeping the room cool.

The words I was about to speak died in my throat when I caught sight of the man. Up to this point, I'd only had seen him from behind, not the front. I hadn't paid much attention to his wild curly hair, or the long multi-colored scarf hanging off of his neck, just as oblivious to the Midwest heat as Earl or the owner of the coat on the chair across from him.

It was his face that had taken my breath away. It was a face I would normally not have paid much attention to if it hadn't been staring back at me every day my junior year in college from the back of the bathroom door, courtesy of my college roommate, Brittany.

It was just a coincidence, that was all. Some mega fan who had an uncanny resemblance and was having fun making the most of it. Dr. Who was nothing more than some television show, it wasn't real.

But hadn't I once thought the same of time travel? And look how that had turned out.

Whatever naïve hope I had left, was quickly burst when a young looking brunette slid behind me and sat down in the seat with the coat on the back. It was then squashed even further when she opened her mouth and spoke in an English accent, "You didn't order without me or anything, did you?"

"Don't be absurd, Sarah Jane," he replied, also in an English accent. "I'd never do such a thing without you." She gave him a look that said otherwise, but didn't utter a word. He didn't seem to mind though, either that or he was used to it. "Besides, I'm afraid I haven't gotten the opportunity seeing as how—" he paused while his eyes darted to where my name tag was, "Emma here, has yet to say anything to me."

My cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. Here was the Doctor, a fictional character and right now the only possible solution to my rather unique situation, and no doubt thinking I was an idiot.

"Yes, well…" I was unsure of what else to say or that there was anything I could say to make myself look better. Instead, I glanced down at my notebook and said as bashfully as possible, "Can I get you two something to drink?"

"Sarah Jane?"

The Doctor's companion peered closely at the menu before looking back up at me. "Oh the chocolate shake looks good. I think I'll try one of those."

I wrote down her order, and then snuck a peek at the Doctor. "And you?"

"A shake sounds marvelous, I think I'll try a banana one."

I jotted his order down as well, though I doubt I'd be forgetting it anytime soon considering who it was for. "I'll put your order in, and come back with your drinks shortly."

As quickly as I could manage without breaking out into a full sprint, I walked away from the table and dropped their order off at the kitchen. A quick tug on my arm, and I found myself looking at Dinah who's hazel eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement.

"So how's Mr. English then? Is he as dreamy as he sounds?" I raised my eyebrow at her. While he wasn't hard on the eyes, the Doctor certainly wasn't as attractive as the usual sort of men Dinah dated.

"What?" she said with a shrug. "I have a thing for guys with accents."

Considering how she was bobbing up and down on her feet, I could tell what she really wanted to ask me. That was fine with me seeing as how I was pretty sure I wasn't able to go back over there yet without spluttering like an idiot again.

"Do you want to switch tables with me?"

She nodded enthusiastically, and we quickly exchange notes on who had ordered what where. About ten minutes and several orders later, I found that the butterflies in my stomach had settled down somewhat and I was confident that I could approach the Doctor without losing my nerve.

Except by the time I got there, Dinah was clearing the milkshake glasses off the table. "Just my luck the first British guy in here is already taken and doesn't even leave a decent tip. I mean the guy ordered another banana shake to go, and you know how long shakes take to make, and I still made sure Ray got on it first thing. Yet, does he even act grateful for all my work? No, of course not, why be kind to the poor American waitress? I swear, the next time I meet a guy with an accent pinch me so I'll remember how much of a jerk they can be."

I nodded several times during her rambling, but I really wasn't paying attention to it. Panic was starting to well up in my chest, and my heartbeat had increased drastically. The one person who could probably help me with my odd predicament was gone, most likely forever.

Worse, something else occurred to me, something that caused my heart to drop to my stomach as I realize all my plans for the future have to be put on hold.

"Are you okay?" asked Dinah, her hazel eyes now full of concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

In a way I have. For the past 155 days I have been under the belief that everything that had happened to me was a result of traveling twenty years into the past. That it was simply a matter of keeping a low profile during said twenty years and buying some heavy duty make-up and I could take over my life again as if nothing had happened once it was 2015.

Except I was wrong. The fact that the Doctor had been in here a few minutes ago proved that.

I hadn't just traveled twenty years into the past, I had traveled to an alternate dimension as well.

That meant that there was no life in twenty years for me to return. That the five year-old me, who's biggest concern at the moment was whether or not there was truly a monster under her bed across town, wasn't a young me at all. Well she was, but she was more importantly an alternate version of me.

"Emma?" Dinah reached out and touched my arm in concern, and for the first time that day I realized I wasn't bothered by the heat. Goosebumps had formed up and down my body.

"I'm fine," I said, and smiled at her. "Just can't wait to get home and back in the AC."

She smiled back me, the worry in her eyes melting away. "Don't blame you there." Satisfied that I was alright, she went off to one of her other tables to see how they were doing.

It's a lie though, I'm not fine—I'm anything but fine. I have spent the past 155 days trying to get my life back on track and making the best of a bad situation. I've even been keeping track of the days as if I an inmate marking the walls, or a castaway on a deserted island.

And now I'm back to Day 0 without any idea of what's going on or what I should do next.

Just my luck.

 ****Author's Note****

I have other things I should be writing, but the diner scene popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone. From there the story grew, incorporating other storylines I've had in my head for a bit that I've wanted to see explored on the show but haven't been so far.

Some notes about this story. Yes, it's one of those 'girl from our world ends up in the Dr. Who universe' stories. While I do enjoy those stories, they tend to have similar elements- some of which I hope to avoid in this story.

The first being Emma is not a Dr. Who fangirl. Thanks to her college roommate she does know about the show and has a general idea of the plot and characters, but doesn't know every episode or every plotline, and certainly isn't that excited to meet him in person. For that reason, there will be no romantic relationship between the two characters. At the most, it'll be friendship and mutual respect. Another thing is that I decided it'd be more interesting for the story to begin with her already in the Dr. Who universe for a bit, rather than having the first chapter revolve around her getting there. That'll be explained in later chapters.

Another thing to know is that even though the Fourth Doctor is in this chapter with Sarah Jane- both of which I hoped I got right character wise since I haven't seen a lot of their episodes and apologize if they were out of character- the Doctor who will be the main one in this story will be the Eleventh Doctor, set between Series 6 and Series 7. There's a possibility that the Ponds and River will show up, but no episodes from the shows will be included.

One extra note is that the reason for the lack of tip is that Sarah Jane is more used to eating in diners than the Doctor, and more so with ones in the 1970's in England. She's not very familiar with the exchange rate or inflation.

I'm hoping to have the next chapter up sometime next week. Right now it's called, 'Banana's are Good'.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review.


	2. Bananas Are Good

I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.

 **Bananas Are Good**

Of all the diners in all the towns on all the planets in all the universes, he just had to walk into mine.

It had been a week since I had met the Doctor. During that time, I had been forced to reevaluate my plan for the future. The biggest change of course was no longer being able to slip back into my old life in 2015. Other than that, the majority of my plan was still in one piece.

Don't attract attention—that was the biggest one. No getting flashy by showing off fancy future knowledge, investing in stocks, or winning big a la Back to the Future style. Not that it made much difference, now that I knew that I was in the Dr. Who Universe. I had no guarantees that the next twenty years here would even resemble my own.

Pretty much the only thing I knew I could pull off without having identification or too many questions asked about my background and would most certainly happen here was my small plan of buying up a bunch of first edition Harry Potters and slowly selling them off over the years once it caught on and got big.

But 1997 was still two years away, and another few years before Harry Potter madness started to sweep across the world if this world progressed like my own.

There was one small addition to my plan—never, for whatever reason, go to England.

My roommate was the Dr. Who fan, and would always have episodes playing in the background or insisting on spending her Saturday nights watching the latest episode. She had the posters, the sonic screw drivers, and models of the Tardis strewn across our dorm room. She knew every episode by heart, the names of every character no matter how small, and even had episodes from the early seasons back when it first aired.

I watched the show because it was there, but I never really got into it. There were too many plot holes, too many leaps in logic. Brittany would always tell me not to think too much about it, to just let Dr. Who be Dr. Who.

That didn't help me like the show any better.

I may not be able to quote the show by heart, but I did know enough that England had the equivalent of a 'Invade Me' neon sign slapped down in the middle of a field somewhere that could be seen from space and there was no way I'd ever go there. America, outside of a handful of episodes, was safe. The boring Midwest, even more so. After all, this was Dr. Who and not Supernatural.

But there still was a small part of that was regretting not talking to him. Maybe he could have helped me get back to my own dimension. Hadn't there been a few episodes dealing with those?

The opportunity had slipped through my fingers and I doubted it would occur again.

I really should have known better though. I was now in a universe that was a work of fiction which meant that contrived coincidences weren't as much of a rarity here as they were in my own. One line I did recall from the show was one about how the Doctor had never seen a miracle and was due for one. It had struck me as odd, seeing as how the majority of the time things always worked out for him and he always saved the day. If that wasn't a miracle, then what was?

A week later, I found myself locking and cleaning up the diner. It was a first for me, normally Earl was the last to leave and the first to arrive. I was actually supposed to get off at noon and have the rest of the day off, but Earl had to leave in the middle of the day to developing appendicitis and I was the only one who was free to stay the night.

As his wife led him out of the door and into the car he threw the keys at me and grunted, "Don't burn the place down."

His words seemed to not show a whole lot of confidence in me, but I didn't let that get me down. Earl was a man of few words and emotions after all. His lack of words actually showed he felt he was leaving his diner in safe hands.

I think.

I was in the process of clearing out the till and counting the money when a tinkling noise filled the diner. I could have sworn that I had locked the door and turned off the 'Open' sign, but apparently I was wrong. Out of all the things for me to screw up my first time closing down the diner it was a minor one—not like burning the place down.

"We're closed," I wanted to say, but the words died on my lips once I saw who it was. It was the second time I had seen him, and once again I had been left speechless.

Except the Doctor didn't have curly hair and a multi-colored scarf hanging loosely around his neck. Instead, he had a buzz cut reminiscent of an army style and was wearing a black leather jacket. He looked around, and seemed to finally notice the lack of other customers.

"Maybe I should come back another time?"

I pushed a loose strand of brown hair back behind my ear. The August humidity was still playing havoc with my hair, but at least it was cooler now than it was last week. "It's fine, the open sign is still on after all. What can I get for you?"

Here it was, my chance to finally make up for my last meeting and ask for his help and I wasn't about to let him slip through my fingers again.

He took a seat down on one of the spin style stools at the bar that I was standing behind in order to count the money. His eyes flickered on the menus lining the wall behind me for a second. "Just a cup of coffee."

Simple and quick; it'd give me a chance to talk to him about my current problems.

But then I noticed his eyes. They were so tired and world-weary and I had seen them every day for the past 162 days in the mirror looking back at me. They were eyes that had lost everything and were ready to admit defeat at any second.

For the most part I put on a brave face every day. Dinah and others would have had questions otherwise if I went around all the time acting all mopey. I never was into theater when I was in school, but I had no doubts I could have been a great actress based on the past months. I smiled, joked, flirted back with customers and even agreed to go on a date with one. It didn't last very long due to the realization he was technically old enough to be my dad, and due to the generation gap I really didn't have that much in common with him.

On the inside it was different story. 162 days later and my heart would still break at the thought of my parents and friends that I would never see again. There were a lot days where I wondered if it was worth getting up. A few times on my days off I would find myself walking in the neighborhood where I had grown up, or walking by my old school hoping to catch a glimpse of something that could dull the ache in my heart.

The majority of the time, it usually made it worse.

I had been ever so careful then, afraid that the slightest mistake would alter the timeline and even getting a job at a diner that I knew for a fact that my parents and family hadn't gone to because it was on the other side of town.

In the past week I had avoided any traces of my past. I was safe in the knowledge that nothing I could do would change my own personal timeline but it came at a cost—the knowledge that I would never have my old life back. Going back and seeing those I cared about would be nothing more than a painful reminder of that fact.

Once I saw the look in his eyes and on his face I knew now wasn't the time to burden him with my problems for he clearly had plenty of his own. I also knew that what he needed most at the moment wasn't a cup of coffee. He needed something that could remind him of the better times in his life and that they could be good again. There was a reason I had started to drink chocolate milk again.

"Give me a few minutes," I said to him, and got a nod in response. I left the money there on the counter confident that he wouldn't touch it and headed back to the kitchen.

He looked surprised when I put a milkshake down in front of him instead of his expected cup of coffee. "You're the second Brit we had in here within a week. He liked the banana shake so much he ordered two. I figured you might like one too."

His brow furrowed for a second, and his eyes lit up as he seemed to recognize my name tag and face. "Ah, fellow must have had some good taste."

I shrugged. "Doubt it seeing as how he was wearing a rather outlandish scarf in the middle of August." I turned my back to him on the last part, not wanting him to see the smirk forming on my face. I wasn't supposed to know that it was him after all, and I couldn't let him catch onto the fact I was teasing him, and not simply making an innocent statement. That would lead to questions I didn't think I should answer, and I was didn't know if I was a good enough actress to pull off lying to the Doctor.

"Yes, well, I'm sure it made sense at the time."

I did allow myself a small smile at that.

When I turned back around, I saw that nearly half the shake was gone and yet, he wasn't showing any signs of brain freeze, and just continued on sipping it through his straw. One of the perks of being a Time Lord I guessed. Lucky him.

"How's the shake?" I asked. "Better than the coffee?"

"Much better," he agreed. "And banana too. I like bananas, bananas are good."

Personally I wasn't that big of a fan of banana, but I wanted him to help me in the future and insulting bananas probably wouldn't help me much. "Bananas _are_ good," I replied and offered him a smile, one that wasn't completely forced for a change.

He gave me one back.

I had originally given him the banana milkshake to remind him that things could be good again, not realizing that the same might apply to me as well. But for the first time in a long time I was starting to feel hope again.

Asking for help right now could wait. I had a feeling given the universe I was in, it was just a matter of time before I saw him again.

And then I'd be ready to tell him my story and go home.

 ****Author's Note****

Next chapter should be up in the next two weeks. It's called, 'The Boy Would Be Crying'.

Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review.


	3. The Boy Would Be Crying

I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.

 **The Boy Would Be Crying**

The banana shake did fill me with hope, but it didn't last for long once I got back to my apartment—or what was left of it.

While I was away, my apartment building had caught on fire due to some faulty wiring. There had even been a few causalities, those who had been caught unaware while they were sleeping—though none I had known personally. Dinah was lucky enough to be out with her latest boyfriend, and I had been at the diner of course.

Out of the two of us, she was the most devastated, having lost all of her belongings. I had already lost all of mine 162, or well, 163 days ago. I only lost the few meager possessions I had—all of which could be easily replaced, though I did miss the Gameboy I had bought, but that was more due to the money I had spent on it for the nostalgia factor. It was too, the Salvation Army stepped up and handed out donations and saw to it that the surviving tenants were put up in the local Holiday Inn while their insurance companies worked things out. I didn't have any insurance of course, but Dinah did, and Earl even promised to give us an advance on our next paycheck.

Given how I was busy with getting back on my feet for the second time in under a year, it was probably for the better that over a month went by before I saw the Doctor again.

Like before, it wasn't the same Doctor I had met earlier. Unlike before, I nearly didn't recognize as the Doctor at first. My initial reaction at seeing him sitting at the table in the corner that Sunday morning in October had been a head whip and the thought, "Who's that blonde chick sitting with Barty Crouch Jr.?"

I nearly gave myself whiplash by doing that, and bumped into Dinah in the process, knocking us onto the floor as I belated realized it couldn't be the Harry Potter character in the corner since the first book wasn't even out yet, but was another version of the Doctor. They were merely played by the same actor in my world.

"Sorry," I apologized, pulling her to her feet and was extremely grateful that neither of us had been carrying trays full of dishes.

She brushed herself off and turned her head around briefly towards where the Doctor was sitting and then back to me. "It's fine, can't say I blame you for getting distracted, god knows I did when he walked in. Then again, who wouldn't?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you still seeing Mark?"

"Doesn't mean I can't still look," she said with a wink, and then sauntered off to the kitchen, keeping the chatter surprisingly short for a change, probably in a hurry to get back to the kitchen.

She really was a good friend, and not for the first time I found myself wondering if there was a Dinah in my world, and if she had the same personality. Would we still have been friends given the age difference? Did I ever actually run across her without knowing? If I did make it back, would she be interested in being friends with someone twenty years younger?

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the distracting thoughts, there was no point in being distracted by them right now. I really should have headed back to the kitchen as well—I had a table waiting on their breakfast platter—but I wanted to speak to the Doctor before he slipped through my fingers again.

Unfortunately though, just as the two times before, I was left speechless for a moment. The first time it was because I was in shock. The second time it was because he was sad. And this time, it was because he was happy.

He had his head tossed back, laughing along with the blonde. I couldn't recall her name, other than the fact it was a flower of some sort. What I did remember, was how her story ended and that from the Doctor's point of view, it wasn't a happy one. Brittany always did tear up over those episodes, going on and on about how heartbroken the Doctor had been. I was regretting not paying more attention to her rambles now.

I knew the Doctor had been involved with other dimensions at one point and the blonde was the reason why. I hadn't cared much for her character at the time, but now that I had been ripped away from my own family and life with no way back, I could finally sympathize with her a little bit, from the little I could remember. Just not enough to know her name apparently.

"You're crying."

The Doctor had stopped his laughter and was looking at me with a concerned look on his face. I brought my right hand up to my cheek and wiped away a tear that had been rolling down it, one that I hadn't noticed was there before.

"I guess I am," I admitted. "The fall from earlier must have hurt harder than I thought." I then smiled brightly at the two of them. "Anyway, I just came over to see if the two of you needed anything."

The Doctor looked a bit skeptical at my story, but the blonde just shook her head at me. "Thanks, but we've already been waited on."

I already knew that, but I needed an excuse for coming over here and talking to them. I most certainly wasn't going to tell them the truth. If the thought of their ending was enough to get me crying, how could I talk to them without telling them everything? How could I stand being around them without attempting to change things? And what if I only made things worse in the process?

No, it was better for me to stay out of the Doctor's life. He had other companions ahead of him, and things he had to do. I couldn't risk changing things by being around him.

Not only that, but what if he started to question how I knew everything? Or worse, one of his enemies found out? From what I could remember from the show, he seemed to have a lot of them, many of which wouldn't blink an eye at torturing the poor little human girl to give up all the information she knew about him even if it wasn't very much.

Now that I truly gave it some serious thought, there was also the matter of whether or not he believed me if I did try to warn him of his future. There were just so many unknowns and so many things that could go wrong, it was probably for the better if I never saw him again.

In order to do that, my best bet would probably be to not only quit working at the diner, but to leave town completely seeing as how he kept popping up in it. Originally, I had stuck around because I didn't have any money to go elsewhere. Then it was because all of my family and my entire life was still here, and I just had to patiently wait twenty years to catch up with them. Then it became a matter of needing to see the Doctor again so he could get me home, and not knowing how else to find him.

Except now that was no longer true. I had no future here and hadn't for a while. If I was completely honest with myself it was something that I had known for some time. The real reason I had been so reluctantly to leave was because this town was the only thing I had left of my former life. By leaving, I would be giving up the last thing I had left. The Doctor had merely been an excuse to stick around.

After all, if he couldn't figure out how to save the blonde he cared so much about from being trapped in another dimension, than what hope did me, some random girl in a diner, have?

I don't remember what I said next to them, I was too busy trying to keep the smile on my face and everything together before I lost it completely. This time I felt the tear rolling down my cheek as I walked away from them.

Worse, was the added knowledge that he be crying tears of his own soon. And no amount of banana shakes would be able to help.

 ****Author's Note****

First I'd like to thank notwritten and Idris for reviewing the last chapter. There's not a whole lot of people reading this story, so each review and alert is appreciated.

Got the next chapter done sooner than expected. It should be up next Thursday, and is called 'Trick'. It's also the longest chapter so far at over 2,500 words and the plot starts to kick in.

Before I started this story, I had a one-shot in mind that was rather similar to the set-up of this story: girl from our world in the Dr. Who universe, only to have the same realizations Emma does in this chapter- that interacting with the Doctor could throw off his future for the worse, and the consequences of her knowledge ending up in the wrong hands, and spending the rest of her life avoiding the Doctor. It was actually rather depressing, which is why it never got written, though some elements did come through in this chapter.

One new addition to this story is an element that I haven't seen so far in other stories similar to this, the fact that the main character already has a double in the Dr. Who universe. The idea that a character is not only torn away from their own life and thrown into a new universe, but also can never claim any piece of their old life in the new universe because it belongs to a version of them who is happy and oblivious to their own misery also seemed more tragic and interesting to me than being thrown into a new universe where they don't exist period.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review.


	4. Trick

I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.

 **Trick...**

Deciding to leave town was easier said than done.

I didn't even know where to go. My whole life had been spent in one modest-size town. I was born here, lived here, went to the university here, and got a job here. I had visited other places over the years, but I had never lived somewhere else and I didn't even know where to start.

It was also 1995, so my traditional source of information, the Internet, was just starting out. Not only was Google not around, but using dial-up sucked. The tones it made when connecting to the Internet was a nice trip down nostalgia lane for one time, but I wasn't heartbroken when the fire destroyed the computer Dinah had bought. Those tones got annoying to listen to after the third time.

I spent several hours trying to think of what other resources to use, and once I came up with an answer, I felt like an idiot.

The library.

I suppose the reason why it hadn't occurred to me sooner was because I hadn't gone to one in years, and it wasn't like I could get a library card since I didn't have an ID. That didn't mean I couldn't look at the books though.

After looking through several, I eventually decided on a town in the neighboring state that was roughly the same size and same kind of small town feel as my own. What really clinched the town as being my new home, was the fact Dinah had a cousin there with a spare place above the garage where I could live, and who had gotten me a phone interview for a job as a receptionist at a dentist's office. Still not what I went to school for, but was a step up from being a waitress. No more long days on my feet in the humid Midwest heat for me.

Everything was starting to look up. The diner threw me a little going away party—though that was more of Dinah's doing than anybody else's. She knew I didn't have any family and wasn't that outgoing, so she was always trying to make up for it seeing as she came from a large one and couldn't fathom being alone.

I think out of everybody I had met in 1995, she was the one who had come closest to seeing through my façade. It wasn't that much of a surprise since we lived together, it was inevitable that she would see the cracks forming in my carefully created mask. Even Meryl Streep couldn't play the same role for twenty-four hours for the amount of days I had spent here (I stopped counting after seeing the Doctor for a second time) though she'd probably get an award for trying.

There was one other goodbye I did, but on my own. It was on a weekday when I knew my parents would be at work and the alternate version of myself would be at school. With a Kodak camera in hand, I found the spare key hidden in a fake rock next to the drainpipe outside the back door—the same spot my father had hid ours.

The kitchen looked just as it had from my childhood—old linoleum that had yet to be replaced, dated wallpaper that had seen better days, dark cabinets that were probably the original ones— and I wasn't surprised.

What did surprise me was the reaction from Abby. I had honestly forgotten she would have been there, seeing as she had died my sophomore year of college. The golden retriever had been the first pet I had ever known and loved, so seeing her again was a punch in the gut. Even more so when she growled at me.

Abby had never growled at me, and once I figured out why, I felt like an even bigger idiot than I did over the library thing. The only me she knew was the little girl me, not the adult version so of course she saw me as a stranger and was wary. It was her job after all.

I hadn't come that far only to turn back, so I spent several minutes simply standing by the back wooden door in as a non-threatening way as I could manage. Which, given my petite stature wasn't that hard. I held out my hand for her to sniff, and she did so. As much as I wanted to embrace her one last time and my fingers through her soft golden fur, I didn't think she'd let me.

Instead, I focused on what I had went there to do—take a few photos with my camera. I had also planned to take a few knick-knacks that wouldn't be missed or noticed, but Abby followed me into each room, and growled whenever I dared to touch something. Apparently her tolerance of me only went so far, and I left the house with nothing more than what I had went in with.

That was okay though. I had had gotten to walk through my family home one last time before saying goodbye, after months of walking down the block outside of it, longing to be welcomed in.

There were even a few times where I had tried to work up the nerve to simply knock on the door and pretend that I was lost, just to see my parents again. Or to call my parents up and pretend it was a wrong number. Each time, my nerve failed me and I chickened out. If this was the closest I would ever get to some sort of closure, then so be it.

Quickly my last day in town came, Halloween as it turned out. The next day Dinah would be driving me to my new life. I had actually gotten off work after five, just as the sun was starting to set and giving off a weird golden color, setting the perfect mood for the day. I had never been much of a fan of Halloween—my mother had always made me bundle up so many layers to protect me from the cold, it ruined the fun of dressing up.

In college, Halloween was an excuse to party, and as an adult, it was an excuse to buy candy and eat whatever was left over. Seeing as how I was still living at the hotel with Dinah—she planned on moving in with her boyfriend once I was gone—there wouldn't be any trick or treaters so I was looking forward to a quiet night.

Once my bus came of course. It still had a few minutes, but I was getting antsy. Tomorrow I would be getting up early to move and I wanted to do nothing but relax tonight. I could have walked—the hotel was a few blocks away, but ever since I had arrived here, I had always taken the bus.

It was how I arrived here after all.

Before, I normally drove everywhere and seldom took the bus. The only reason why I had that day was because of a 'Drive Green' initiative my work had come up. For a week, you were encouraged to be more eco-friendly with how you got to and from work—carpool, bike, walk, and take the bus of course. The office with the highest number of participants would get a little bonus in their paychecks and each person would be entered into a drawing for some sort of grand prize. I did it for the former reason, my supervisor even offered to take those of us who participated out for lunch one day. It seemed like a no-brainer, especially when you factored in the few blocks I would have to walk to and from the bus stop which gave me some exercise that I kept putting off doing.

It was on the final day, a Friday in March, that I ended up in this world. There was nothing to clue me in that my life was about to go sideways. No flashing lights, strange noises, unexplained occurrences, cracks in the wall, or any other warnings—at least not that I can remember. I was just tired from a long week at work, having completed several hours of overtime. I climbed on the bus swiping my bus pass through the little box at the entrance and plopped down in the first empty seat, not paying much attention to my surroundings. Leaning my head on the cold glass window I was lulled to sleep by the motion of the bus.

That was it. I fell asleep on a bus in my world, and woke up on a bus in another world. Of course, originally I thought I had just time traveled, but the truth didn't make much of a difference—I was still stuck here.

There was a small part of me that hoped all it would take for me to get home was to fall asleep on a bus again. It was stupid and highly unlikely, but that didn't stop me from riding the bus as much as possible. Something that was made easier since I didn't have a valid license and couldn't drive Dinah's car no matter how many times she offered. The last thing I needed was to get caught driving without a license.

But it hadn't happened so far and there was no reason to think it would happen tonight.

The bus pulled up as expected and I stepped on doing a double take at the driver who was wearing a rhino mask, but didn't think much of it since it was Halloween. As long as the driver could see well enough out of it so he could drive safe, I didn't care.

I went to sit down in my usual spot right above the right wheel well—the same spot I had sat in when I fell asleep and ended up here. However it was already taken by somebody else who had their back to me, forcing me to sit across the aisle above the left wheel well. If going home hadn't happened before, I doubted this trip would be any different, so why bother?

Besides the person sitting in my usual spot, there were a few other people on the bus as well. Some were seated with their backs turned away from the aisle like the person in my spot, and others were wearing Halloween masks that looked rather familiar.

It took me a minute to realize why—they were the same rhino masks as the driver was wearing.

A chill went down my spine as the thought that they weren't just masks occurred to me. I turned my head to the window hoping that they hadn't caught me starring at them, or the horror in my eyes as I slowly realized that I was the only human on the bus.

If the Doctor could show up in a small town diner in the Midwest, then how stupid was I to think that just because it was America, other aliens wouldn't show up as well?

There was the sound of movement to my left, followed by a clicking noise. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that whatever it was would go away and leave me alone.

It didn't.

"Tell us what you know of the Doctor, or face immediate execution."

I slowly turned my head to the left, towards the sound of the voice and opened my eyes, looking right up into the face of a rhino who had some sort of weapon directed at my head.

I had thought I was used to weirdness. Time travel, alternate dimensions, fictional characters, so alien rhinos really shouldn't have been that big of a deal.

But they were. Having one breathing heavily in front of you with a gun aimed to kill you with a face that up close clearly wasn't a mask was terrifying and unbelievable at the same time.

Was this really what my life had become?

"Answer the question human!" he snarled, and waved the gun around in my face.

My mouth went dry. "Um, Doc-Doctor who?"

Any other time I would have giggled at the clicheness of the question, it was something that was always repeated on the show. Now I was simply trying to buy time to figure out how much information the rhino thought I knew, and how information I could tell him without revealing how much information I really knew about the Doctor. One of the things I had started to dread most about living here, was coming true.

Another rhino came over, and pulled out a spherical metallic device. He pressed a button on the side, and an image of the Doctor with the scarf flashed above it, followed by the one with the leather coat, and the one with sticky-up hair and jacket.

"We have been hired to capture the Doctor outside of the human country known as England. In the past seven of your Earth months, the alien known as the Doctor has frequented this town four times, which is an anomaly for him. You have been identified as the common factor between these visits. We wish to know of your involvement with him, and when he'll show up next. Now speak human, and know this machine will emit a high pitched sound if it senses you lying. Lying will result in immediate execution."

That was a lot of information to absorb, but I still nodded my head in understanding. I had been a rather successful actress these past few months, I could do it now. All I had to do was pretend to be a waitress named Emma Wells who was most definitely not from another dimension and had no idea that the three British men who came into the diner where she worked were all secretly the same person who just so happened to be a time traveling alien.

Easy.

"You mean them? They never said anything about being a Doctor."

Which was true, they had never told me to call them the Doctor, and neither of their companions had called them that. The device agreed with me, not uttering a peep and the rhino looked like it was disappointed for not having an excuse to shoot me.

The two rhinos were joined by a third and the three started speaking in an alien language. I didn't bother paying attention to it, it sounded like gibberish anyway and I was more focused on answering their questions as well as I could while keeping my answers to a minimum.

Finally, the one with the space gun spoke to me again in English.

"You will tell us everything you can about your encounters with the Doctor—and be warned you will be executed for not being truthful."

I hadn't expected any less.

So I told them about the man with the scarf who came in with a girl, neither of which were dressed for the August heat and both who ordered milkshakes. I told them of the night the man with the leather jacket and sad look on his face who asked for coffee, but got a banana milkshake instead. I told them of the man who came with the blonde, both laughing and smiling all the while as if he hadn't a care in the world.

All of the information that was one hundred percent truthful, but wasn't anything new that his enemies probably didn't already know and really couldn't use against him. The best part was that the sphere didn't beep once.

"The human has told us all that it knows. Now it's time to exterminate her," said the one on my righ.t who was still holding the sphere.

"Agreed," said the one on my left, and the one in the middle raised his weapon.

"Exterminate me?! But I didn't lie!" I exclaimed. My heart started to beep frantically, I wasn't ready to die, I finally gotten my life back on track and I couldn't die on my last night in town just when I was about to leave it for this very reason.

The three exchanged looks of confusion before the one in the middle spoke. "That is true, and we will not be exterminating you for lying."

"You won't?" I asked, unconvinced. This was too good to be true.

It was.

"Of course not. You will be executed for admitting to being an associate of the Doctor. We were told to only bring him in alive, any associates or companions were to be found guilty and executed."

"But, that's murder! I mean, you can't just kill me for giving a guy a milkshake!" I insisted.

No amount of insistence on my part looked like it was going to sway their opinion of me. "It is not murder. You have been accused of being an associate of the Doctor's and have admitted your guilt. You have been found guilty by the Judoon and your sentence is execution."

I wish I could say I was brave in the next few moments. That I overpowered them and escaped, or came up with a way to outwit them. The truth was neither of those things. I was absolutely horrified that after everything I had been through, this was going to be how I died—on a bus at the end of a space gun being controlled by an animal that belonged in the zoo, simply for the crime of doing my job.

I squeezed my eyes shut once more, not wanting to see the killing shot come my way. Just before it did, a high pitched whistle filled the air. Seeing as how I wasn't dead yet, I guessed this wasn't part of the plan. I tentatively opened my right eye and saw that the rhino with the gun had put his weapon down, and was busy looking from me to the sphere.

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you?" asked the rhino with the sphere.

What? Had the sphere finally alerted them to the fact that I knew more than I let on? That I was really from an alternate dimension? How was I going to explain that? Then again, what incentive did I have when their plan was to kill me anyway?

I didn't have much longer to dwell on the meaning of their words, for something completely unexpected happened. With a violent jolt, the world turned upside down.

 ****Author's Note****

First I'd like to thank affable, notwritten, and Idris for their nice reviews. It's always nice to see that there are some people enjoying this story.

So the beginning of this chapter was longer than expected, but the Judoon finally showed up there at the end. Hopefully I got them in character.

Next update is next Friday, and the chapter is '...Or Treat'. I have the rest of the story pretty well plotted out, and the next chapter will be the last of the first part of this story. After that, it'll be original adventures with the Eleventh Doctor, before the conclusion.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review.


	5. or Treat

I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.

 **... or Treat**

To say that the world turned upside down would be a bit of an understatement.

To say that it exploded would be more accurate.

The sound of ripping metal and shattering glass filled the air, and there was a blur of motion that reminded me of the tilt-a-whirl at the county fair I went on when I was thirteen, and vowed to never do so again, as I felt myself thrown violently to the side.

And just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The world came to a screeching halt, though my head kept on spinning. It took a couple seconds for the motion to stop, and once it did, several things occurred to me.

The first being that I was in pain. There were parts of my body that were stinging, and other others that were throbbing, sending sharp jabs of pain throughout my entire body. Bringing my hands up to my face I could see cuts covering them, and tiny trickles of blood running down the side, and little shards of glass sprinkled across.

The second thing, was that the bus had been in a crash of some sort. It'd explain a lot of things—the noise, the pain, and the fact that the seat I had been sitting in was now located above my head.

The third thing, which was also probably the most important, was that I had to get out of here fast. The rhinos had been thrown about just as wildly as I had, and while I was lucky that none had landed on top of me, though I was pretty sure I could remember one hitting against me at one point. But they were already starting to get back on their feet, looking none worse for the wear. Apparently they had thick rhino hide to go with their ugly rhino faces.

Joy.

But I didn't have much time to waste if I didn't want to only survive the bus crash, except to get caught and executed for the simple crime of admitting to know the Doctor. That would be even more embarrassing than simply being shot during the first time.

Without wasting any more time, I reached towards the broken window in front of me, wincing as the broken glass dug into my fingers and my body protested any sort of movement. I did my best to ignore the pain spreading throughout my body; it could punish me later once I was safe and alive. With a few grunts as I dragged my body across the opening, and a silent vow to work out more if I got of this alive, I was almost halfway out of the window.

A tight pressure on my right ankle stopped me from making any more progress, and caused me to cry out. Despite the sting from the glass cutting into my arms, I held on tightly to the bus. Partly because my grip was the one thing keeping me from being captured by what was surely a rhino, and partly because it distracted from the pain in my ankle—probably caused from a combination of the rhino's tight grip and an injury I received during the crash.

With my left ankle, which was still free, I began to kick wildly, hoping to land at least one hit long enough to act as a distraction so I could get away. All I got instead was another tight grip yanking on my right ankle pulling me away from the window. I screamed again, not being able to hold it in.

Then to my surprise, I felt two more tight grips, this time on each of my wrist pulling me in the opposite direction of the bus, away from the rhino. My vision was starting to blur again, but a soft voice spoke out.

"It's going to be okay, I've got you," said the voice, sounding gentle and extremely unlike the gruffness of the rhinos. There was also a touch of compassion in his—for the voice most definitely sounded male—something else that I doubted the rhinos were capable of feeling.

Feeling resistance, the rhinos tightened their grips on my ankles, causing me to scream out in pain again. In response, the stranger moved his hands to around my torso, causing another scream. Unlike the rhinos, he at least had the decency to murmur a soft, "Sorry".

As a way to help him, I let go of the bus and wrapped my arms around his chest, holding on as if my life depended on it—which I guess it did. My body had turned into nothing more than a human version of a rope in tug-of-war and I didn't want to find out what would happen if my rescuer lost.

After more tugging on their part and feeling like I was surely going to be split in two, one side finally let go. Thankfully it was my ankles and I fell face forward right into my rescuer's chest, sending him to the ground with an 'oomph'. I was nearly smothered by clothing, but it was more welcomed than the crushing sensation on my ankles.

Pushing myself up, I finally got a good look at my rescuer, and my blue eyes met green.

Was this going to become a thing? Every time I met the Doctor, he'd leave me speechless?

As per usual, it was a different Doctor than I had met before. Floppy brown hair and bow tie meant it was the one after Tennant, who Brittany had cried her eyes out over and declared that she'd never like the next one. Of course, not very long into the new Doctor's run and she had declared him her new favorite Doctor.

Frankly, I didn't mind him because at least whenever I looked at him I wouldn't be reminded of Barty Crouch Jr.

His green eyes were just as wide as mine in shock, so clearly I wasn't the person he was expecting. That was a first for me.

The brief spell of our eyes meeting was broken the grunting noise coming from behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know the rhinos were making their way out of the bus and that was not a good thing.

Panicking, I grabbed the Doctor's hand, ignoring the it sent up my arm. "We have to get out of here, the space rhinos want you."

"Space rhinos?" he asked in confusion, but he wasn't confused for long. Pushing me gently to the side and letting go of my hand, he stood up and paused. Reluctantly, I turned my body around on the asphalt so that I was sitting on my butt with my legs splayed to the side watching the scene behind me unfold.

Behind me were the four rhinos, without a single scratch on them. Lucky bastards. The one at the right end exclaimed, "Finally, we have you Doctor. Prepare to turn yourself over to the custody of the Judoon."

Judoon? Was that their name? They had said the word earlier, but I was more concentrated on the threat of being executed than I was to pay their verbiage a whole lot of attention.

The Doctor seemed unfazed by their words, he merely raised an eyebrow. "Is that so, eh? Well, I'm afraid you'll find I've never been the sort to come quietly." He then pulled out his laser pointer—for I could never remember the actual name of the device and found it amusing how red Brittany's face would get when calling it that—and pointed it at the bus causing it to make a whirring noise. "What do you say we discuss this somewhere else? Somewhere a bit more, covert."

The rhino on the left spoke next, waving his weapon around. "The Doctor is known for confusing and outwitting his opponents, the Judoon will not be fooled."

The Doctor held up his hands in a form of surrender. "No tricks, I promise, well for the time being at least. According to my sonic screwdriver," ah, that was the name of the laser pointer, "the bus behind you is leaking petrol and is about to ignite. I don't know about you, but I would hate to be near it when it explodes. Incidentally, we are also attracting a bit of a crowd, and seeing as it is the—" he paused while licking his finger and holding it up in the air—"the 1990's, or early 2000's, doesn't really matter which. What does matter is that alien life-forms are still a bit of a novelty and could cause mass panic, and unlawfulness—something the Judoon are against, or are supposed to be."

He did have a good point. The golden hour was long over, but I could still make out shapes of people on the outskirts making their way towards us. For the first time during the past few months I was actually grateful it was the 1990's for it meant people wouldn't be shooting videos on their phones and uploading them to Youtube where I might get some unwanted attention from the authorities.

Score one for the 90's.

The four rhinos, for that was what they still were to me, shifted nervously on their feet and exchanged looks. "What would you have us do?" asked one of the ones in the middle.

"Simple," said the Doctor. He then pointed off to a small alleyway to the left. "Over there is a closed shop where my Tardis is parked. Why don't the five us go over and continue our conversation?"

The four started to confer among themselves, and the Doctor reached down to me and pulled me up on my feet.

"Can you stand?"

I tried for several seconds to stand on my own, but the pain in my ankles was too great, causing me to shake my head as tears welled up in my eyes and a lump formed in my throat making it hard to speak. Before I could fall to my feet, which would probably cause even more pain, I reached out and tugged on his arm, turning him into a crutch.

"Don't worry, it won't be much longer. The Judoon are all about rules and order, they would want to keep this as quiet as possible."

I snorted. "Yeah, including killing me to keep their existence secret."

The Doctor shot me a look indicating he wanted to say more, but he didn't get a chance to, for one of the Judoon spoke. "We will follow you, Doctor, but no tricks."

"No tricks," swore the Doctor, waving his hands around in the air innocently. I had seen enough episodes to know that was a straight-up lie, and the rhinos somehow managed to display a doubtful look on their tough rhino faces, which was a bit surprising considering it didn't seem like they should have the range for complex emotions.

Once more the world turned upside down, though it wasn't with a violent jolt, but more with a graceful scoop. Rather than acting as my impromptu crutch, the Doctor had decided to simply carry me in his arms—without asking my permission or giving me the least bit of warning.

I was a bit miffed over it, though I couldn't deny I felt better with weight off of my ankles. I tried to open my mouth to let him know that just because he was the Doctor that didn't mean he could do whatever he wanted with people without asking. That was just plain rude.

What stopped me was the fact that the world kept moving and didn't stop when my body did—it had happened earlier on the bus, but this time my stomach was doing flip flops like it had on the tilt-a-whirl all those years ago. I closed my eyes shut, hoping the spinning would stop. It was starting to get dark, so I couldn't see what was going on that well anyway, and I had enough of the death glares being directed at me from the rhinos to last me for a lifetime.

Going against my usual nature, I found myself snuggling up against the Doctor. There was something about the smell of his shirt that was comforting, I noted. Normally I would have never have done such a thing with a stranger—which is what the Doctor truly was to me—and have insisted on being put back down. For whatever reason, though probably due to the fog of pain and dizziness that was descending upon my brain, I threw caution and normalcy to the wind. Once he started to move, presumably to the alleyway he had mentioned earlier to the rhinos, I clutched tightly at his jacket feeling like I was going to be dropped at any second. He didn't say anything to me, but his arms around me tightened. I hoped that it was his way of reassuring me, and not simply because I was too heavy to carry.

Wasn't there something about the time people being like Superman or something? Wait, time people didn't sound right. Time aliens? Time British people? Time rhinos?

My brain started to hurt from trying to think too much—a phrase I never thought I'd say—and seeing as how the Doctor had stopped walking, I decided to instead concentrate on what was going on around me.

I opened my eyes long enough to see that he had put me down in a folding chair in a backroom of some sort. There was some sort of store not too far from the diner that had closed, but I couldn't think of the name of it or where it was.

Then he turned on the lights, and I regretted ever opening my eyes. My stomach did so as well, and my roast beef sandwich from lunch came back up and ended up on the floor next to me. This whole entire time it had managed to stay down, but not anymore.

Nobody said anything to me, though that didn't mean they weren't looking at me in disgust. I didn't care though, I felt absolutely horrible. The rhinos wanted me dead anyway, so I could care less what they thought of me. As for the Doctor, he had seen me look like an idiot before, and was the reason I was in this mess in the first place, so I really didn't care what he thought of me. I really felt for whatever person who would have to clear it up because it most likely wouldn't be discovered for a while due to the place being closed.

"Well, here we are," said the Doctor, clapping his hands together for emphasis. "Now, about that pesky arrest business…"

"You swore no tricks Doctor."

"Yes, yes, I know," said the Doctor no doubt trying to assure the rhinos of his good intentions. I didn't hear any beeps so either he was telling the truth or it had gotten destroyed in the crash. I'm guessing it was the latter. "But, you mentioned you had been hired to arrest me. Don't suppose you'd care to let me know who exactly that was, or where, or when?"

"Those details are not classified. The Family Slitheen have hired the Judoon for crimes committed against their family resulting in x counts of murder."

The Family Slitheen sounded familiar, or was that because it sounded so much like Slytherin? Well whatever it was the Doctor did to them, I was sure he was either innocent or it was self-defense. He was the hero of the show after all. I think. Things were starting to get a little fuzzy.

"I see," replied the Doctor, not indicating one way or another if he really was guilty of the crimes he was being accused of. "And what about you, eh? What about the five murders you committed, and the one you attempted? Oh, don't give me that look, did you really think I wouldn't notice? That I wouldn't question what you did with the actual bus driver? When I scanned the bus with my sonic screwdriver, there were five bodies on there that had been dead for over half an hour—clearly not due to the crash."

It was a good thing that my food had already come up, because otherwise it would have done so again. After the bus had crashed and rolled over and the Judoon came out with me and the Doctor, I hadn't questioned what had happened to the other people, including the person who was sitting in my spot. I hadn't even stopped to think about them.

But the entire time they had been dead, and only because the rhinos wanted to ambush me and they had the unlucky fortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Peachy. Even when I tried to stay out of the Doctor's timeline I still managed to screw things up and people died as a result.

And my head still wouldn't stop hurting.

"They were acceptable losses for the greater good."

"Acceptable losses?" growled the Doctor, and part of couldn't help but wince from the dark look that must have been on his face. "Acceptable losses?" he repeated. "How exactly are five human lives acceptable losses and what gave you the right to decide such a thing? This planet is protected by intergalactic laws and treaties that even the Judoon recognize."

"All acceptable losses were determined to be inconsequential, their deaths did not matter. Now, no more delay tactics Doctor, prepare to surrender yourself to the custody of the Judoon."

How big was a space rhino's brain? Surely it was big enough to know that using terms like 'inconsequential' or 'deaths did not matter' was not the smartest thing to say to the Doctor. I had a pounding headache that was the equivalent of a drum solo, and even I knew that.

"Yeah, about that, gave it some thought and I'm afraid I'll have to turn you down."

Could one even turn down being arrested? Well, if anyone could succeed at it, it'd be him.

The space rhinos weren't having any of it though.

"You will come with us Doctor, or—"

"Or what?" interrupted the Doctor. "You'll execute me too? Aren't you supposed to bring me back alive? Wouldn't killing me defeat that purpose?

"No, don't answer that, because here's the deal I'm willing to offer you, and you'd better pay attention for it's a one-time offer. Up on the roof of this building is where your ship is parked. You're going to get on it and fly back to the Slitheen and tell them you were unable to take me into custody upon discovering that my crimes paled in comparison to theirs. I suggest you spend your trip back reading up on how exactly the Slitheen earn the money they planned on paying you with, if they even bothered to pay you at all rather than simply disposing of you similar to how you disposed of those you deemed were 'inconsequential'. Spoiler, they make Al Capone look like Mother Theresa by comparison.

"In return for doing so, I'll overlook—no that's wrong, I won't and can't overlook the five deaths you've caused, along with a possible sixth—but I will stop myself from retaliating on those so-called five 'inconsequential and acceptable losses' for what fits your definition of the greater good. Now there's an offer you can't refuse."

I think that's the gist of what he said at least. He kept going on and on, never once stopping, did he even take a deep between all those words? The pain in my head was getting worse and worse, making it harder and harder to concentrate on what was actually being said.

It was so much, that I spaced out while the two continued to go back and forth with threats and negotiations, but I really didn't care anymore.

A beeping noise filled the air, causing me to scream out in pain and throw my hands over my ears to drown out the unexpected and loud sound. Something was tugging my hands away from my ears, and reluctantly I let them.

"…they're gone," I could hear the Doctor saying in a soft voice. "They're gone and they're not coming back. I need you to open your eyes and stay awake."

I tried to do as he said, really, but my eyes were just so heavy, and there was fire and dull pounding pain everywhere, and sleeping just sounded so good at the moment, the sweet embrace of nothingness was tugging at me and welcoming me with open arms.

The Doctor started to shake me. "Emmett—no wait, that's wrong, that's a boy's name, look at me being as bad as Strax—I mean Emily, no, Emeline—no that's wrong too—Emma! That's it, Emma, stay awake, please just stay awake…"

* * *

I opened my eyes to pale grey walls in a dimly lit room that had recessed lighting tucked in between the walls and the ceiling. There were several white medical looking machines surrounding me, beeping steadily with circles and foreign symbols dancing across the screens.

"Oh good, you're awake." I turned to my left side and saw… the Doctor? The floppy-haired bow tie wearing Doctor. What was he doing here? Better question, where was here?

He was sitting in a chair next to my bed, hunched over towards me. Even in the dim light I could see that his clothes were slightly wrinkled, exactly how long had he been sitting in that position?

"You're in the med bay on my ship called the Tardis," he said, answering my unspoken question along with a few others I hadn't thought of. "I brought you here once you fell unconscious. Besides having a concussion, you had hairline fractures on your ankles—no doubt caused by the manhandling of the Judoon—along with several bruised ribs, some internal bleeding, and a scattering of bruises and cuts all over your body. The worse of your injuries have been healed, though it'll be a few more days before you're completely back to normal."

I looked down at my unblemished hands as an image of them covered in scratches and blood flashed briefly before my eyes. Just as quick as it had come, it was gone, and I was left looking at my injury free hands.

"What exactly happened?" I asked, still a bit fuzzy on the details. "I remember the bus with the space rhinos asking me about you, then the crash, and after that, everything gets a bit blurry."

"That's probably due to the concussion. While I got the basic gist of what happened on the bus, would you mind telling me what happened in your own words?"

I nodded, trying to gather my thoughts. Once more I found myself in the awkward position of trying to figure out exactly what I could tell him without giving too much about myself away, but fully answering his questions. The upside was that he wasn't threatening to kill me if I lied, so that was something at least.

"Well," I said, beginning slowly, "I ended up on the bus. I noticed that the driver looked like a rhino, but didn't think much of it because it was Halloween. I went to sit in my usual spot but it was already taken—"

I paused slightly as the words caught in my throat, remembering what the Doctor had said earlier about the rhinos killing the other passengers and rhinos. To his credit, The Doctor didn't push me for more information, but merely placed his hands on top of mine while looking at me with those green eyes of his. When I was ready, I finally continued.

"And then I realized that they weren't actually wearing rhino masks, but were actual rhinos."

"Judoon," he corrected me, speaking up for the first time since I had started my story.

"Judoon," though I would keep calling them rhinos internally, for that's what they were. "They then came over, three I think—no, four—and started asking me about the three British customers I had waited on in the past few months. They showed me images of all three, and said that they were the same person, the Doctor." Then, to make sure he couldn't question my story about me knowing him any further, I added, "They also showed me a picture of you, saying that you were the same person too. Is that true? Are you really all those men? How is that even possible?"

A slight blush started to creep into his cheeks. "Yes, well, guilty as charged," he admitted sheepishly. "I'm not exactly, well, human. I'm an alien, and in order to cheat death, my species simply regenerates into a new person."

"Okay."

He raised an eyebrow at my reaction. "Okay?"

Right, I'm not supposed to be used to the idea of him being an alien or aliens actually existing. Whoops.

"Yeah, okay. I was just threatened by space rhinos—sorry, I mean Judoon—with space weapons pointed at my head and threatened to tell the truth under pain of death only to be nearly executed anyway except for the bus to crash and overturn and nearly dying again. At this point, I'm really open to anything. Okay?"

"Okay," he responded, with a slight look of amusement on his face.

Well at least he was no longer suspicious of me. Though I did have a few more questions for him. "So who exactly are the Judoon anyway, and why were they after you? And what did that have to do with the Slytherin?"

The look of amusement slipped quickly away from his face, and part of me regretted asking the questions, but it was only natural on my part to want to know more about the rhinos who had threatened me. This time it was he who took his time answering.

"I encountered the Family Slitheen a while ago, and stopped their plans to salvage the earth. As it turns out, they still had a few family members out there who didn't take it well when I stopped their family here, and as a result sent the Judoon after me, getting you caught up in the process."

That sounded vaguely familiar, though I did get the feeling he was holding back some information. The truth was, I really didn't care enough to press him for more. I had a feeling I wouldn't like his answers, if he even bothered to answer me truthfully.

"So now what?" I asked. "I mean, I'm grateful for you saving my life and all don't get me wrong, but now what's going to happen to me?"

For a split second, a look of regret crossed his face, but it was quickly replaced by a look of excitement. "Well, once you're back on your feet, I figured you could travel with me for a bit. That's the nice thing about the Tardis, it can take you anywhere in time and place. What do you say?"

I have to admit, if I hadn't seen the show and didn't know any better I would have said yes without a second of hesitation. There was just something about the way his eyes sparked with excitement when he spoke that sucked you in and made you want to agree with whatever he was selling you. In another life, he probably could have been great at infomercials.

When watching the show, I could never understand how the companions could just take off with some strange guy they had just met, abandoning their lives for an uncertain and possibly dangerous future. Now, I got it, I understood his appeal and how a person could just give everything up for him without a second thought.

What was holding me back though, was knowing what was ahead of me if I said yes. I had nearly died once, and that was once too many for me. Clearly I didn't respond well in stressful situations like he would need a companion to be, if it wasn't for the bus crashing I'd be dead thanks to the rhinos.

There was also the lingering fear of his enemies finding out the little I did know about him, or worse, him finding out that there was more to me than I let on.

No, being a companion was not for me. I'd just have to summon up the courage to say no to those puppy-dog eyes of his.

"Sorry, but I've had enough excitement to last me a lifetime. If you don't mind too much, just drop me off at home."

To be more accurate, the hotel so I could move to my new home the next day, but he didn't need to know that.

The look of regret from earlier returned to his face. He gulped nervously, and I wondered what exactly it was that had him so worked up.

"About that. After we left to discuss things over with the Judoon, the bus, well, it may have caught on fire as expected. And because of the intensity of the fire, you may have been presumed dead along with the bodies of the passengers and driver because they couldn't properly be identified."

Alright, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was actually fairly easy to fix. "So I just show up and say I missed the bus, no big deal," I pointed out.

"Emma, it's not that simple. As far as the timeline is concerned, you died in the bus crash."

I still didn't see what the big deal was, didn't he screw with the timeline all the time?

"So? Look, I appreciate the offer and all, but I've had enough excitement to last me a lifetime, really. Would it really be that hard to change it?"

He sighed, running his hand through his floppy hair. "I suppose it's possible somehow…"

I smiled at him encouragingly. "See, that wasn't so hard."

* * *

A quick change of clothes later provided by the Doctor thankfully—at some point the Doctor had managed to dress me in some rather loose fitting grey sweats, which was still better than a hospital gown, but I couldn't exactly show up in—and I was at the front door of the Tardis.

The console room looked just as weird as it had on the show, with a bunch of buttons and gizmos cluttering it without any rhyme or reason for their purpose. There were lights flashing and the occasional odd noise as well, making it seem less like a spaceship and more like a mad laboratory, which I guess it kinda was in a way.

"Ready to go?" he asked me, with his arms crossed in front of his chest as he leaned against the console. He didn't look that happy to see me go, but I didn't really care. I had made my choice, and the companion life just wasn't for me.

I nodded, and followed him out the white doors. The sooner we got this over with, the better. That way I wouldn't have to worry about any second thoughts.

He had stopped abruptly at the entrance, and peering around him, I could see why.

"I thought you were going to take me home, this is most definitely not home." It was actually more like a small wooded area filled with trees in the distance, with cleared land and big piles of mud nearest to us. There was a small white trailer off to the side, but for the most part it seemed devoid of any human life.

Unless we were really, really, off course and in some part of town I didn't know about, this wasn't home.

"Hmmm… it seems as though we've gone slightly off course."

I snorted. "You think? Can't we just go back in and try again?"

"Emma, where would the fun in that be?" he scoffed. "Besides, we're already here, might as well poke around."

He stepped out, completely ignoring my outraged face. Was he really that easily distracted?

I followed him out, only to hear the sound of the doors shutting loudly behind me. Whirling around, I started to tug on their handles, but the doors wouldn't budge open.

"See, we're supposed to be here. Let's get moving then."

"Yes, but…"

There really was no point in protesting anymore. He was off and gone, strolling off towards the trailer not even bothering to see if I was following him. The stupid doors wouldn't open for me no matter how many times I pulled or pushed, or swore at them.

Despite my best intentions, I was now a companion and I was going to have to make the best out of a bad situation and try not to die.

Looking down, I allowed myself a small smile. At least I wasn't wearing a red shirt.

That was a good sign, wasn't it?

 ****Author's Note****

Wow, there were a lot more reviews for the last chapter. Please keep it up, because they are always appreciated. I'd like to thank AnnaRoma, QTArbuthnot, twinbuster, notwritten and Idris for their reviews. Now that the pacing and plot have picked up, it seems like more people are starting to enjoy this story.

And that's the end of the first part. As you can see, there is an actual story, and things will start picking up from here. The first few chapters were more about Emma getting adjusted to her new reality and trying to figure out what she wanted. Now, despite how hard she's tried to avoid traveling with the Doctor, she's going to have to. The next five chapters will be more like actual episodes with each one with a dedicated adventure plus hints of an overall plot, and each one will be original. Apologies in advance if I accidentally copy something from the old shows, or books. The last few chapters will be dedicated to bringing the story to an end.

A few notes about this chapter. I didn't think it would be completely far-fetched that not all of the Slitheen family would have come to Earth, and it was possible some more were out there taking care of the negotiation end for their deals, and would understandably be a bit ticked at the Doctor for not only screwing up their deals, but killing their family members as well. Naturally, they'd want to hire some muscle to bring him into custody, and would probably fail to mention their own criminal history.

There were also a few questions about the number of the Judoon on the bus. There was one acting as the driver, one sitting in the front, and two sitting at the back making four in total to completely block Emma from leaving the bus. The bus was heading eastbound when it was struck by a semi-trailer who plowed through an intersection, causing the bus to overturn several times. The bus then started to leak gasoline, which the Doctor noticed, and eventually caught fire. As you can tell, I may have spent some time on figuring out the exact details of the crash.

The next chapter won't be out until May. I'm going to spend my writing time in April doing Camp Nano. I participated back in November, and even at 70,000 words, my original story is only 72% complete. I'm hoping to complete it in April.

That's the bad news. The good news is that the chapter is called 'Entrapment', and below is a sneak peek. I'm actually a bit excited because it's based on a real place, and the Doctor was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard about it. Also, like this chapter, the next few chapters will start be longer than the first few. Here it is:

 _I looked at him, dumbfounded. "What do you mean it's on your to-do list? How do you have a to-do list? What else is on it? The Bermuda Triangle? Big Foot?" I leaned in closer. "Is there really a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence? And let me guess, the Loch Ness Monster is secretly an alien."_

 _He blanched at my last question. "Wait, the Loch Ness Monster is actually an alien?"_

 _Really should have expected that given where I was._

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review.


	6. Entrapment

I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.

 **Entrapment**

How the Doctor managed to make it so far in his life when he insisted on putting everything and anything into his mouth is beyond me.

Waiting for me to catch up with his long strides, he paused right before the trailer and knelt down to the ground. With a flick of his wrist, he deftly plucked a blade of grass from the ground, held it up to his face, and began to lick it.

Ugh.

He then stood back up, and licked one of his fingers, and held it up in the air. Excitedly, he looked to where I was standing and loudly exclaimed, "Ah-ha! North America, twenty-first century."

I raised an eyebrow skeptically at him. "Was that really necessary? I mean, for all you knew it could have been poisonous."

This time it was his turn to shoot me a skeptical look. "Yes it was a matter of fact it was, I now know precisely where we are."

"Give or take a hundred years and a few thousand miles," I muttered under my breath, not impressed in the slightest. Wouldn't something as high tech as his ship come with some sort of time and space GPS system?

He ignored my mutterings though I suspected those alien ears of his had picked them up. "And as for poisonous, I'm a Time Lord. There are very things in the universe that can harm me, let alone a tiny piece of Earth grass."

"And if it had?"

He waved, well more like flapped, a hand in my direction. "Honestly Emma, don't be such a worry wart."

A handful of episodes popped into my head highlighting the need to be a worry wart, especially seeing as how I had been reluctantly thrust into the role of being a companion and had no idea what I was doing. Whatever retort I had, I never got a chance to say, for people were starting to approach us.

They were in a group of three. One was a young looking guy about my age who had messy brown hair and smudged glasses. Even though he wasn't wearing a lab coat, he had an air about him that just screamed 'scientist'.

The other guy, much older with noticeable grey streaked throughout his dark hair, was most definitely not a scientist. He was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and mud-covered jeans, both of which had seen better days. His skin was tanner, and more leathery looking than the scientist as well, evidence that he spent more time outside than inside a lab.

The third of the group was a Latina woman looking to be somewhere in between the other two age wise. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight bun and was wearing some sort of uniform that looked to be military. Her brown eyes flickered from me to the Doctor, then back to me, before settling on the Doctor.

Not wasting a beat, the Doctor reached into his jacket and started to pull something out, but the woman cut him off. "There's no need for that Doctor, we were told ahead of time to expect you and your companion."

"Oh really?" He asked, slightly disappointed and a bit put out that he didn't get to use whatever it was he was fishing for. "And who exactly told you that?"

"Does the phrase, 'Hell in heels' mean anything to you?" She took the Doctor's slightly shocked expression as a yes, and I found myself wondering who exactly fit that description among his various companions over the years. Something to dwell on later.

She continued on. "Very well then Doctor, let me welcome you to Oak Island. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Amanda Collins. This here is Frank Lucas, current owner of the island," she said while gesturing to the older guy to her right, "and this is Simon Jones, one of the scientists who has been stationed here," and gestured to the younger guy, who I'd correctly identified as being a scientist.

I felt a little smug at that confirmation.

The Doctor reached out and shook their hands, and I followed his example. "Well, as you know, I'm the Doctor and this here is Emma Wells. Couldn't help but notice you're wearing an American uniform. So what's an American Lieutenant Colonel doing on Canadian soil?"

I peered closer at the uniform wondering what differentiated it as American versus others, but it looked like every other generic uniform you'd find in a movie or television show. I was impressed that a guy who had to resort to licking grass to figure out what planet and century he was in could identify an uniform with a single glance.

"Mr. Lucas here is an American who recently acquired the island. I was sent on behalf of the United States by Senator Hirsch to join the Canadian expedition to get to the bottom of the mystery of the island once and for all," answered the Colonel.

"Mystery?" I asked, and started feel a sense of dread. This wasn't an episode of Scooby Doo, this was Dr. Who, and mystery meant danger which could lead to death.

Namely mine.

To my surprise, it was the Doctor who answered, with an excited expression plastered across his face, reminiscent of a child who was about to open his Christmas presents. "Since the 1800's there have been numerous attempts to dig at the Money Pit, named for the amount of money that's been sunk into it over the years with only more questions than answers to show for it. Yet, despite everything people still flock to this little island in search of treasure.

"You humans are always so persistent, even when all the evidence is to the contrary, you still insist on doing something other species would consider impossible or insane. Amazing, once you think about it really."

Wow, he managed to compliment and insult the human race all at the same time. That took a special kind of talent.

Frank, the owner of the island, didn't care for the backhanded compliment. His cheeks got red and he pointed his finger in the Doctor's face. "Now look here alien-boy, I don't know what kind of Doctor you think are, and frankly I don't care. This time we're going to succeed."

"Oh really?" The Doctor was more amused by Frank's antics than frightened. I didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. Surely an angry Doctor wasn't a good Doctor to be around, but antagonizing the guy wasn't a smart move either. Being around a stupid Doctor couldn't be any better. "And tell me, what makes this time so different? If I recall correctly, nobody could make it very far into the pit without it flooding."

Frank puffed out his chest, clearly proud of whatever he thought he had on the Doctor. "With all the military and the scientists around here, we managed to build a pump station to pump the water out, and keep it from flooding the hole. Since doing that we've managed to make it several hundred more feet, and our equipment shows that we're about to hit whatever's down there."

There was a spark in the Doctor's eyes, and I could tell he wanted to ask a million more questions, apparently as eager as Frank to discover what was at the bottom of the pit. The Colonel held up a hand to him. "Why don't we take this conversation to the Base where you can ask all the questions you want? Then you can join the expedition once the drill makes it to the bottom."

The Doctor clapped his hands together excitedly and rocked back and forth on his heels. "Well then, let's get going, shall we?"

As the three led the way past the trailer I had seen earlier, I leaned over and whispered, "How exactly did you know about this place?"

A broad smile crossed his face. "Yes, well, Oak Island has been on my to-do list for a while."

I looked at him, dumbfounded. "What do you mean it's on your to-do list? How do you have a to-do list? What else is on it? The Bermuda Triangle? Big Foot?" I leaned over closer to him. "Is there really a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence? And let me guess, the Loch Ness Monster is secretly an alien."

He blanched at my last question. "Wait, the Loch Ness Monster is actually an alien?"

Really should have expected that given where I was. I mean, sure, why couldn't the Loch Ness Monster be an alien? Anything was possible here.

The Doctor shot me a furtive look. "That's a long story, perhaps best saved for another time…"

The three in front of us stop abruptly, causing me to nearly trip over my feet and into their backs. I would have too, if the Doctor hadn't caught my arm and yanked me back in time.

The Colonel turned around. "Welcome to the Base, the center of our operations for the Island. Inside you'll find all of our key personnel and equipment. In ten minutes we'll be headed to the Pit to start drilling. Jones, escort Miss Wells to the Breakroom."

The Doctor crossed him arms. "Why are you separating Emma from me? She's my companion, and where she goes, I go."

Wow. The guy had barely known me for like what, a day? And he was already defensive of me like one of his actual companions. It'd mean it'd be harder for me to convince him to drop me off, but at least he was vested in my survival, well more so than the average person. Maybe I didn't have to worry as much about surviving this encounter after all.

"Calm down Doctor," replied the Colonel, nonplussed by the Doctor's outburst, as if it was something that occurred every day. "While Miss Wells may be your companion, she is also a civilian. Only authorized personnel are allowed at the actual site for security reasons, and I'm afraid simply being your companion is not enough of a credential to give her access. She does not have the proper training or experience, nor is there time to give it to her. An exception to the rules is already being made for you Doctor, in the case of Miss Wells it's non-negotiable."

"Alright then," conceded the Doctor, and I let out a sound of indignation. "Emma, perhaps it's better if you take a break from this adventure, you're still technically recovering from a concussion."

I couldn't believe this. All this time I had been terrified of being in danger and wanting to keep out of things, and now I was being told to just that.

Except, now that I was being told what to do, I wanted to go head first into danger and be there at the site. How dare they tell me what to do, as if I was some child. I was twenty-five years old for crying out loud, I didn't need to be handled with kid gloves as if I was going to break.

My dissatisfaction must have shown on my face. "Emma," said the Doctor, "There will be other times. Right now it's better for you to stay in the Breakroom and be safe."

I silently fumed. Common sense told me he was right, and there was no point in arguing, and to simply accept my way out. It was what I had wanted after all.

Except…

There was now a part of me that wanted to join the Doctor on whatever crazy adventure he was about to go on, and that wanted to know what was at the bottom of the Pit.

Digging for buried treasure? Count me in. I mean, who hadn't liked to imagine they could find buried treasure in their backyard if only they looked hard enough when they were younger? And now was finally my chance, and he just expected me to go and sit it out? Wasn't that the complete opposite of the show? Wasn't he supposed to be dragging me into danger rather than tell to wait until next time?

"Emma?" he asked, gently and with those big green eyes of his that were just impossible to say no to. Did he know of the affect they had on people and use them on purpose to get what he wanted?

I couldn't handle his gaze for long, it felt too much like he was staring into my soul, and a pain started to develop behind my eyes. I looked away instead, and tried my best to sound like I didn't care. "Whatever."

* * *

Simon led me to the Breakroom, making small talk along the way. Mainly how he had heard about the Doctor from various government officials over the years, but never thought he'd get the chance to meet him. He had met aliens before, but none as important as the Doctor, and assured me he had no ill will towards them. I just smiled politely and nodded along. It wasn't that I didn't care about Simon or the conversation, but that it was so awkward. He kept snucking glances at me when he thought I wasn't looking, and there seemed to be a bit of jealousy and wistfulness in his eyes.

It didn't take an idiot to pick up on the expression on his face, or the longing in his voice to figure out he was jealous of me and the fact I was a companion. I didn't have the heart to tell him it wasn't by choice and the entire thing was an accident caused by space rhinos, or that this was actually my first true adventure with the Doctor. That just seemed cruel.

So I just nodded and smiled and did my best to go along with the small talk all while hoping it wasn't much farther to the Breakroom.

The Breakroom as it turns out, was the trailer the Doctor and I had first seen once we landed. Inside was a large room with a few tables, a refrigerator, a vending machine, water cooler and a TV in one corner. On the one end was a door with a sign that labeled it as a bathroom. There were linoleum tiles on the floor, and basic white ceiling tiles and florescent bulbs for the ceiling. Everything that I expected a place called the Breakroom to be.

There were four people scattered around the table, all of whom glanced up from what they were doing—reading a book, watching the news, playing cards—at us as we walked in the door.

"This is Emma," explained Simon and I waved my hand weakly, feeling a bit like an idiot doing so. "She's with the Doctor. Emma, this is Max, Riley, Jamie, and Bella. Max is in charge of food supplies and preparation, Riley handles the books, Jamie deals with the press and media, and Bella pretty makes sure all the people on the dig site remember to eat and sleep."

Bella, who was the sole blonde and playing cards with one of the others (and with a substantial pile of oreos before her compared to her partner), snorted. "Sure, when you say it like that, it sounds so impressive. But seriously, I'm pretty sure they'd all be dead without me there to shove food down their throat or treating them like five year olds who are up past their bedtime."

Jamie, her partner who was pretty much done with the game unless he was sitting on a good hand, rolled his eyes. "Ignore Bella, she likes to pretend she's more important than she actually is."

"Please, you're just saying that because I'm kicking your butt at poker," replied Bella, and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ignore those too," said Riley, who was a bit older than Bella and Jamie who'd I peg as being my age if I had stuck around in the '90's (not that I knew what year I was actually in), and didn't even bother to look up from her book. "They're always like this. Don't worry Simon, we'll keep an eye on the girl for you."

Simon nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to it then."

Once he left, things got quiet. I sat down on one of the folding chairs around the table while Riley went back to her book, Max, who hadn't had spoken started watching the news again (something about aliens, apparently I couldn't get away from there whenever and wherever I went), and Bella and Jamie started a new round. They offered to deal me in, but I turned them down. Poker was one of the few card games I just didn't get, and I personally preferred to watch them try to out-bluff each other.

Getting sleepy and not wanting to drift off in a room full of strangers, I scooted my chair over to where Max was at the TV. The news was long gone, and instead was replaced by one of the Harry Potter movies. _Goblet of Fire_ judging by the presence of Mad Eye Moody at Hogwarts.

"Harry Potter, nice," I said, trying to be both polite and stay awake.

Max shrugged. "For being one of the originals, it's okay. The special effects are totally better in the newer series, and they come in 4-D rather than this lame 2-D. I tried convincing Frank to spring for a 4-D in the Breakroom, but he was all, 'we need to conserve money' and Riley sided with him of course so we ended up with this piece of junk."

Wow. The TV in front of me was not a piece of junk—even ignoring the fact that I had been living the past few months in the early '90's. By 2015 standards, it would still be considered high end.

And that wasn't even addressing the fact that apparently the Harry Potter movies had been remade, and from the way Max was acting the originals were subpar to the newer ones. Which begged the question, exactly what year was I in? From the way the Breakroom looked, it couldn't have been too far ahead of 2015, but now Max had me doubting myself.

"So," I said as casually as possible, for admitting that I didn't even know what year it was sounded embarrassing, "how old exactly are the original movies? Ten years? Fifteen?"

"Like, twenty at least," replied Max, not even bothering to look away from the TV. "The late 2000's I want to say."

My stomach did a flip-flop, but at least the time jump wasn't as bad as it could have been. I mean, if it was twenty plus years from the late 2000's than that put me somewhere are the late 2020's if not early 2030's. Fifteen years wasn't too bad.

Then I realized that right now there was a forty year old me out there somewhere. I was old enough to be married with kids by now. A scarier thought was the fact that besides Riley, everybody in the room was probably in grade school back in 2015.

I left Max to flipping channels while I tried to handle the knowledge of how old I was or should be in this year. Or what to do with the knowledge. Should I look my other self up? Memorize lottery numbers? Find out winning sport teams like Marty did?

Well, things didn't work out that well for him, creating an alternate horrible timeline and what not. But I couldn't travel forever with the Doctor and I would need money to survive on my own.

Wait, that was it. I was on an island with buried treasure, _actual_ buried treasure. What if I got to it before the others? Surely they wouldn't miss a few coins here and there. What lethargy I was feeling quickly left me, replaced with a rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins.

I could do this. I could find the treasure before the others did.

Standing up, I walked over to the door. I was pretty sure one of them called my name, but I ignored whoever it was. It wasn't like they mattered anyway, as soon as this adventure was over I'd leave with the Doctor and then it'd be on to the next one. Brittany could name all the companions and everything that was known about them, but I doubted even she knew all the names of the little side characters who appeared in each episode. Nobody cared whether or not they lived or died, or what their hopes and dreams were. All that mattered was the Doctor and his current companion which just so happened to be me. Even Simon knew that.

I exited the trailer and looked around, seeing a shovel propped up around the corner of the trailer, next to what looked to be a garden of some type. It wasn't some fancy drill, but it was better than nothing. Besides, who needed some fancy-schmancy drill anyway? In the olden days all they had were shovels and their hands and they still made it pretty far.

Knowing I couldn't dig at the actual site for they'd probably shoo me away, I found a quiet little spot away from the trailer and the others and started to dig. I put the heel of my foot on the back of the shovel pushing it forward into the ground—just like I had seen done before on TV and in movies. Whether or not it made things easier I didn't know, I had never used a shovel before. I could feel blisters forming on my hands from my grip on the handle, and my shoulders aching with each shovelful of dirt I threw, but I didn't care. It'd be worth it once I struck gold.

"Emma, stop!"

It was probably one of the red shirt characters again, so I ignored them just like I had before.

"Emma!" screamed the voice again, this time closer. I just scooped up another shovelful of dirt.

I didn't get a chance to throw it anywhere, I was pushed roughly to the ground, the shovel dropping from my hand. "Ow." Looking up I saw a familiar pair of green eyes peering into mine. What was that for?"

He put his hands on either side of my head and started to peer deeply into my eyes. There was a pounding in my head, building up behind my eyes and reverberating in my skull. I tried squeezing my eyes shut in the hope that it'd stop it for good, but found that I was unable to.

I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move my limbs or even close my eyes. My heartbeat quickened as I began to freak out, and even more adrenaline flooded my system, which only seemed to make the pounding worse.

Right when I thought my head was going to explode, the Doctor let go and the pounding started to subside. I was finally able to close my eyes and did so immediately. My heart was still pumping adrenaline, but it wasn't out of fear or pain. Instead it was out of anticipation, I could finally get back to digging.

I rolled over to my side, and reached for the shovel so I could start digging again. I barely had the handle in my grip before I was pushed to the ground once more, though thankfully it wasn't face first into a pile of dirt. The taste of dirt still filled my mouth though, and I struggled to spit it out. I also might have let slip a few choice words aimed at the Doctor too.

There was a sudden heavy weight on my back and it didn't take a genius to figure out who was responsible. For being so skinny, the Doctor sure was heavy, making it pretty much impossible to move underneath him. I couldn't even breath so I could yell at him to get off.

He yanked my hair back, causing my neck to pull up without my consent, and I felt a cold circle descend around my neck. I paused, in shock, trying to make sense of what just happened. The weight on my back was gone, leaving me free to sit up. Finally able to do so, I looked down and found myself wearing an odd-looking metallic necklace with some sort of shiny rectangle thing hanging down in the center.

My fingers started to explore it, only to receive a light smack on the hands for the effort. "Hey!" I protested.

"Stop that," replied the Doctor and swatted at my hands once more. Then he placed his hands on my head again, and started to do that weird Jedi stare from earlier into my eyes.

To my pleasant surprise, no headache followed his touch. His hands quickly dropped down and he stepped back.

"What was that for?" I demanded.

"It's a trap," he started to explain, "this entire island is a trap, a prison designed to keep an Osirian locked up. There's no ancient treasure, Holy Grail, or Willy Wonka Golden Ticket at the bottom of the Pit. It's nothing more than an alien trapped in a hole and sending out low level telepathic signals for hundreds of years, preying on the weak-minded and sending them illusions of grandeur and visions of treasure in an effort to be freed. Once I realized the truth, I knew I had to find you quickly, even more so when I discovered you left the trailer."

That was a lot to digest, but one thing stood out. "Did you just call me weak-minded? Are you saying that I'm stupid?"

I'll admit I wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he didn't have to say so to my face. That was just plain rude.

"Emma, your brain is still healing from a concussion, leaving you susceptible to mental attacks. Once I confirmed that there was indeed an outside presence affecting your mind and compelling you to dig against your will, I placed a telepathic block around your neck."

Okay, that made sense and made me feel a bit better. At least he didn't think I was a total moron. Then something occurred to me. "Wait, how come you don't need one?"

He tapped the side of his head. "Time Lord physiology of course. What kind of Time Lord would I be if I couldn't even block a low range telepathic attack?"

Oh, so he didn't think I was stupid, just literally weak-minded and easy to fall victim to low level attacks apparently. That made me feel oh so much better. Stupid Time Lords and their superior alien brains.

"If the attacks are so low level then why is the alien so dangerous? Nobody else," I said, thinking of Max, Riley, Jaimie, and Bella in the trailer. They hadn't seem affected by the alien prisoner at all. I had barely been on the island for two hours before being turned into Ratcliffe from Pocahontas. "Nobody else was affected like I was, and you said that was only because of my concussion."

He shook his head at me. "It's different now Emma, the closer they get to freeing him, the less material there is blocking him from the air. The Osirians were clever when they designed his prison. Osirians are hardy, able to survive for hundreds of years without food or water. The flooding that occurred once the humans dug too deep wasn't an accident, it was the Osirians attempting to damper the prisoner's telepathic field and decrease his range and power.

"Except you humans, you silly tenacious, unrelenting humans refused to give up. Simply build a pump to solve the problem so you can keep on digging. And now they're close, closer than ever before and with each mound of dirt removed from the pit, the stronger the prisoner's telepathic field grows."

"But why go to all that work and effort to imprison somebody and prevent him from escaping, why not just kill him outright? Or is stranding their prisoners on random islands on other planets something they do?" I pointed out. Really it seemed like a lot of work for little payoff, especially when their only guard was a tunnel of water that would flood if somebody started to dig.

My comment gave him pause, and his brows furrowed. "You have a point, Emma. Not only that, but this entire thing is as un-Osirian as possible. Where are the pyramids? The Egyptian flare? No, there's something off about this entire thing."

"Yeah, too bad you can't just asked them," I joked. It certainly would make things easier than going around blindly investigating. He got a puzzled expression on his face, which then lit up. If this was a cartoon, he would have had a lightbulb going off above his head. I sighed. "You're really just going to go and ask them?"

"Exactly!" agreed the Doctor enthusiastically. "I'll just go back to when this all started and ask them. Emma, stay here. The telepathic blocker should work all right against one sole Osirian, but I think it'd be best to not test it against an entire fleet of them and putting your brain further at risk. Stay here, and keep out of danger."

Gee, it's like he didn't trust me or something. Though, given my brief history of near death experiences with him, I couldn't exactly say I blamed him.

I nodded. "Okay, I'll go back to the trailer and stay there this time. I promise."

* * *

As it turns out, that was easier said than done.

For what the both of us had completely overlooked was the fact that the crew at the dig were getting closer and closer, and while the four in the trailer weren't in full on mania dig mode like those at the site probably were, or like I was, that didn't mean they weren't getting there.

Or that the Osirian wouldn't notice the fact that I was no longer under his control and the Doctor had vanished, and not take it well. Considering that I didn't even make it five feet back to the trailer without being attacked, he must have really not taken it well.

Barely two minute after the Doctor had left and I started making my way back to the trailer, I was ambushed. Jaimie, Max, Riley, and Bella were lined up with their arms crossed and scowls on their faces, looking like they belonged on a poster for the CW's latest show.

I started to laugh at them, but quickly stopped once I realized they were serious and intent on hurting me. That wasn't hard to figure out due to the fact they were starting to run at me angrily, brandishing a hodge-podge of weapons. Another shovel, a hoe, one of the chairs from the Breakroom, and a knife to be precise.

It was hilarious and frightening at the same time.

Naturally, I started to run away in the opposite direction. I had seen enough of this show to not question what was going on or try to talk them out of, but immediately flee from danger. I was not going to be a red shirt and die on my very first adventure.

I didn't get very far though. Something whacked the bottom of my shins causing me to fall to the ground. Turning over I saw Bella standing over me with a hoe. Well, it was better than the knife. I kicked at her ankles, attempting to send her to the ground as well, but she didn't even budge.

"That's not going to work," she sang sweetly and rather annoyingly. "Now, why don't you just take that necklace off and join us? Help us dig, and you'll be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams."

Did she, or the Osirian I guess, really think that speech would work? It was so cheesy, and the classic villain, 'join me and we can rule the world together' speech. Had I been that stupid the brief time I was under his control?

I pretended to mull it over, trying to stretch the time out as long as possible. The Doctor had to arrive at some point, right? Then again, what was the worst thing that could happen if I took off the necklace. It couldn't be worse than death which would happen if I didn't.

My fingers started to fiddle with the necklace, which seemed to please Bella, for she gradually started to put down the hoe. Feeling safe for the time being, I started to stand up slowly, with my hand clutched tightly around the telepathic blocker.

"Well? Have you decided?" asked Bella. "Will you join us?"

I wanted to say no, but I had no guarantee when or if the Doctor would show up. I couldn't go around acting all noble counting on him to save me all the time, I had to be capable of saving myself. Sighing heavily, I began to remove the telepathic blocker from around my neck.

I barely raised it up to my chin before Bella collapsed to the ground. Lying on the ground were the three others, and standing above them was an extremely pissed off Colonel with a rifle of some sort in her hands.

Okay, so I had been expecting the Doctor, but I'll take whatever Deus ex Machina I could get in this world.

"If you insist on taking that chain off, I'm afraid I'll have to insist on shooting you with a tranquilizer," and to drive home her point she pointed it directly at me and I dropped the chain in my hand instantly, not stupid enough to get shot even if it was with a tranquillizer gun. I had made it twenty-five years without experiencing a gunshot wound, I'd like to make it another twenty-five. Though it did make me feel better that she hadn't straight up shot Bella and the others. They were under the effects of mind control and shouldn't be held responsible for their actions.

Hang on.

"How come you're not under the effects of the Osirian?"

She dropped the gun next to her right side, and used her left hand to pull out a chain around her neck. Drooping in the center of it was a telepathic blocker, not unlike my own. "We weren't told much what to expect by the Doctor's presence, but it was mentioned that bringing one of these wouldn't go amiss."

Ah. Point to Miss Hell in Heels. At least one person besides myself on this island was free from the Osirian. We might actually stand a chance until the Doctor got back.

If he came back. It was probably still better to create a plan that didn't revolve around the Doctor arriving on time in order to save the day, just in case he didn't and we'd all be screwed.

"We shouldn't be standing around in case the Osirian decides to send more people after us. We should get back to the Breakroom and fortify ourselves there while calling for backup with more telepathic blockers."

Without me agreeing to anything, she started to drag me towards the Breakroom by my wrist, but I jerked it back causing her to trip slightly and glare at me. Sure, that was the plan, but if the last few minutes had taught me anything, it was that planning to simply hole up in a place and wait for the danger to pass was not the smartest move to make right now. There was no telling how long the backup would take to even get to the island.

"Wait. I have an idea."

* * *

I was starting to second-guess this idea of mine. It had sounded so simple. If removing the water had strengthen the Osirian's telepathic fields, then surely filling the pit back up with water would weaken it.

The issue was figuring out how to exactly go about it. The Pump Station had multiple rooms with levers and pressure gages, and fancy monitors showing lines and figures that I had no idea what they were showing and neither did the Colonel. Her fancy training that she had and I didn't, never covered that, just how to shoot a tranquilizer gun.

My conjecture of course.

"So now what?"

The Colonel was looking bemused by the entire situation, as if she was more into humoring me and my ideas rather than believing in them. It was as if I was a child and she was the parent who was indulging me when I claimed that my cardboard rocket ship could get me to the moon, patting me on the head for my effort.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I was expecting some big red button that said 'Do Not Press' or a lever labeled 'Will Flood Pit'."

She snorted. "This is reality, not some cliché movie. Did you really think it'd be that easy?"

Yes, yes I did. This wasn't a movie, but it was a television show, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was that easy. Each episode was only forty minutes long, so things usually got wrapped up pretty quickly.

"Right… How about we just start pressing buttons and hope that one of them works?" I suggested half-heartedly.

She raised an eyebrow, and I knew my suggestion was just as stupid out loud as it was in my head. "And what if pressing random buttons actually makes things worse?"

"Um…"

I was starting to wish I had taken more science classes than just the basic ones required for my major, or paid more attention in the ones I had so I actually knew what all the little numbers and spinning arrows met. And what exactly was psi?

"It looks to me like you two are in sore need of a Doctor."

Behind us was the Doctor, leaning across the wall with a smug look on his face that made me want to smack it right off. I wondered how long he had been waiting to use that line. Did he have a list of them hidden a pocket, just waiting to be used at the most opportune moment?

The Colonel didn't look surprised by his sudden arrival, so I'm guessing that was something else Miss Hell in Heels had mentioned to her that the Colonel hadn't thought to share with the rest of us. I myself wasn't surprised because this Dr. Who and he always showed up at the last second, or was supposed to. Just a bit bothered that he had waited this long to show up instead of when I was being attacked.

So why I had been so hesitant on counting on his arrival to save the day earlier and so quick to write him off?

Food for thought later.

"Well?" he asked, "are you just going to stand there, or are you going to ask me what I found out?"

"The time for explanations is later Doctor," said the Colonel and pointed to one of the monitors in the room, which apparently belonged to a camera on the outside of the station. On it were Bella and the others, having woken up from their little nap, and making their way to the Pump Station like a pack of rabid zombies hungry for some brains. "It looks like we're about to have company."

"Right," said the Doctor. "Probably best to get this on with. What are we about to get on with exactly? I'm afraid I was only around for the last part."

I rolled my eyes at him while the Colonel answered. "Miss Wells here came up with the idea to flood the Pit in order to weaken the Osirian. We were in the process of figuring out exactly the best way of doing so when you showed up."

"Did she? Well done Emma, excellent plan. Now I'll just go ahead and pull it off by flipping a few levers here," he said and waltzed over to one of the walls that was covered in different dials, levers and switches and spitting out gibberish in the form of numbers and symbols, and started to flip a few of the levers. "And a few here," he said, and this time turned a dial. "And a few here," and pushed a few buttons. The entire display reminded me of when he was trying to fly his ship when we landed here in the first place by mistake. Did he actually know what things to press, or was he just making it up as he went along and hoping for the best?

There was a grinding noise, and one of the lights on a nearby wall started flashing red, before stopping for good. "Ta-da! And now the pump is pumping water from the ocean and back into the Pit."

Huh. So maybe he actually did know what he was doing. Go figure.

"I can't believe it was that easy," muttered the Colonel, clearly expecting more of a challenge.

Honestly, I had been expecting the mind-controlled Bella and her cohorts to break-in and be forced to have sort epic fight while the Doctor struggled to get the right dials and levers pressed. Then of course, one would stick and refuse to budge, thereby amping up the tension and suspense.

For a television episode, things were certainly turning out to be rather anti-climactic.

"Well, if you'd prefer I'll go and just reverse the whole process so we can do it again, only this time we'll increase the level of difficulty so it won't be as easy and invite everybody in to have a massive brawl," snarked the Doctor, and I couldn't help but giggle a little. I never knew he had it in him to be sarcastic.

I liked it.

The Colonel was less enthusiastic, looking as if she wanted to use the tranquilizer gun on the Doctor.

To prevent said scenario, I stepped forward. "So you said something about explanations?"

"Ah, yes," replied the Doctor while he eyed the Colonel's grip on her tranquilizer gun. So he had noticed. "It's quite a long story, a rather long and sad story in fact. Basically, our prisoner was the former head architect of the Osirian empire. While designing a new palace, he fell in love with one of the king's daughters.

"Unfortunately she was already promised to another. When her father found out about the affair, he was furious and ordered his death. The princess wept for her love, and begged for his life, threatening to take her own. As a compromise, the king agreed to spare him, but instead had him imprisoned on a small, uninhabited island on a planet where the most intelligent beings were still primitive by Osirian standards.

"To further punish the architecture, the king ordered him to be imprisoned in a simple pit, with none of the Osirian architectural hallmarks. The ultimate insult to one of the brains behind their iconic pyramid designs. His death would be slow and boring, for he would only need a small vent for air to survive. The water was nothing more than a means to prevent him from calling out to the natives of the planet in hopes that they'd free him."

The Doctor was right, it was a long and sad story, and I couldn't help but feel bad for the guy. From the sound of things, the princess shouldn't have interfered. Execution would have been a better death than slowly wasting away, unable to do nothing while time passed by. No wonder he was reaching out mentally to any humans he could. I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd also go insane by the isolation for centuries.

The Colonel quickly ruined the mood. "Okay, so how do we kill him for good?"

The Doctor and I both turned to her with incredulous looks on our faces. "You can't just kill him," I protested.

"Why not? Over the years, at least six people have died trying to free the prisoner, and Miss Wells you nearly became the seventh not even an hour ago."

The Doctor's eyebrows raised in alarm at that statement, and I waved him off and mouthed, 'I'm fine'.

The Colonel continued. "And what will happen when you free the prisoner? Just let him go out and about in society? The public is already having issues accepting aliens, how do you think they'll feel about one who could control minds? What's to stop him from storming into the White House and taking over the country? The world? Doctor, can you vouch for his sanity after all that time spent at the bottom of the Pit and that he won't be released fully bent on revenge?"

I had to concede that she had a point, and so did the Doctor for he seemed lost in thought. "But we can't just leave down there," I argued. "He'll just keep going after people mentally in order to get freed, he won't stop."

"Exactly," agreed the Colonel, "that's why it's best to kill him—not only to prevent him from causing more deaths, but putting an end to his misery as well. Surely you won't condemn him to another millennia of being trapped at the bottom of the Pit all by himself?"

She was making a good case, but it still didn't feel right. While it was his fault he was at the bottom of the Pit, he hadn't started out as a killer, and really the punishment didn't fit the crime, at least by human standards. And I still couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy—even though he had mentally attacked me and sent the four after me.

"Doctor? You can't tell me you agree with her?"

He looked up at me from his spot against the wall, his arms still crossed and face grim and serious. "Doctor?" I asked again.

"Emma," he said seriously, all traces of the snarky Doctor from earlier, gone. "She's right. He may have been innocent once, but he's not anymore, and there's no telling what he'll do if he's free. He might not even be to control his mental abilities anymore if he's spent centuries away from his own people and trying to send them out."

It would have been so easy for me to agree with them, just to go along with their plan. If I was watching the episode with Brittany, I wouldn't have cared what happened to the Osirian, or even have bothered to remember his alien species—similar to how I couldn't remember the name for the space rhinos. If he'd died, I would have gone with it and not shed a tear.

But this was different, this was real and not just a television episode. Earlier, when I was being controlled, I had referred to Max, Bella, Jaimie and Riley as nothing more than red shirts that wouldn't matter if they died because nobody cared.

I was wrong. They were actual, real-life breathing people with their own hopes and dreams. Max liked to garden fresh produce for when he cooked, and enjoyed Harry Potter. Riley enjoyed reading and was a bit of an introvert, preferring to stay in the background. Bella wasn't a dumb blonde, good at cards and with a smart mouth. Jamie sucked at cards, but enjoyed a challenge whether it be riling up Bella or winning cards against her. Even Simon, the scientist had his own life and dreams.

They were real, and even now watching them on the monitors as they walked around dazed and confused trying to make sense of what just happened, I wanted to go out to them and apologize for thinking the way I did of them. They deserved better.

And so did the prisoner.

There had to be another way.

Think.

Going back and time and setting him free before he could do any damage? But wouldn't that just cause a paradox?

No, that still wasn't the answer.

Killing him was definitely not the answer. Leaving him in the Pit was not the answer. Letting him go free because he could control people was not the answer.

So what was? And why did I keep going around and around again in circles only coming back to the same thought repeatedly? It was nothing but an endless loop—a trap, just like the Doctor had said—with no obvious way out.

Or was there?

Think.

I started to fiddle with the necklace, twisting it around and around in my fingers, the tips brushing gently against the telepathic blocker.

That was it. He couldn't be let free because there was still a chance he might try controlling people or could no longer control his abilities at all. But what if his abilities were controlled for him?

"Doctor, could you build him a telepathic blocker preventing him from using his abilities but he couldn't remove? Then he could be gradually eased into human society, and weaned off of it. If he could prove he was trust-worthy and able to control his powers, then it could be removed permanently. Or if it became a problem, he could be imprisoned with his powers blocked."

I beamed at the Doctor, proud that my solution to the problem didn't involve death or imprisonment outright. The Doctor had a proud look on his face too, and my smile fell slightly. "You thought of this already, didn't you?"

"Yes," he admitted, "But what matters is that you managed to come up with it too."

I groaned, feeling a bit like an idiot. Of course he had already thought of it. Did I really think that I could outsmart a who-knows-how-old alien who had solved probably thousands of problems just as tricky as this before, if not worse?

The Colonel was still having some doubts, despite the Doctor not only agreeing with my plan, but apparently thinking of it first too. "Is this plan of yours even possible? And if it does succeed I suppose, we're just supposed to look after him?"

"Of course it'll work, whenever have my plans not?" I quirked an eyebrow at that, and the Colonel looked just as skeptical. The Doctor pointed his finger at me. "You, don't answer that. And as for keeping an eye on him, there's always UNIT. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to lend a hand. I'll even gave Kate a ring if you'd like."

"That won't be necessary," replied the Colonel quickly, clearly not wanting to involve UNIT. My memory of them was a bit fuzzy, I think Brittany called them Dr. Who's answer to SHIELD, except UNIT existed first or something. Or maybe it was the other way around?

The Doctor grinned like a Cheshire Cat. Poor Colonel, falling right into his trap. "Good then. Now you two stay here while I go to the bottom of the Pit and get the prisoner."

"The others aren't going to like it when they discover there's nothing at the bottom of the Pit after all these years but a giant hole," mused the Colonel.

"Hmm…" pondered the Doctor. "You do have a point, and the Pit is clearly not natural, so if there is nothing there it would beg even more questions, and I do have some old coins and treasure somewhere in the TARDIS I suppose I could spare…"

"You have an Indiana Jones room somewhere in the Tardis, don't you?"

"Do not," he answered, albeit weakly. And then before I could question him further, he walked out the door and towards wherever he had parked the Tardis.

"He so totally has an Indiana Jones room."

The Colonel didn't disagree with me.

* * *

It wasn't long after the Doctor left that the crew from the dig site made their way to the Pump Station demanding answers as to why the Pit had just flooded, along with the civilians demanding answers as to why they had acted the way they did.

Luckily, the Colonel took the lead. "The Doctor discovered that the Pit was sending out low level telepathic signals causing people to act in ways they typically wouldn't. In order to permanently remove the device, the Doctor said the Pit had to be flooded."

Frank wasn't happy with that answer, his face started to turn bright red. "And you did so without consulting me? I'm the damn owner of this island, you're here to serve and protect me, not flood my property on the word of some damn alien!"

"All due respect sir, my orders were to tend to the Doctor once he showed up, and if he wasn't around, to watch after his companion—not to tend to you or your orders. If you have an issue with that, you can take it up with Senator Hirsch."

Frank's face paled, and not so much as a smirk appeared on the Colonel's face as he backed down, though I knew she wanted to. Well, I did, and went ahead—I had no reason to hold back.

There were more arguments and discussions, but I was starting to zone out. It had been a long day—if it could be called that—and my head was starting to feel light-head. The adrenaline that had once flooded my system was long gone and sorely missed. When was the last time I had eaten?

In response, my stomach rumbled loudly and embarrassingly, and I felt something shoved into my hand. It was a strawberry granola bar, and without wasting much time I started to tear into it.

"You okay?" asked the Colonel. I was too busy devouring the bar to answer or care that I must have looked like an animal, so I just nodded. She handed me a bottle of water once I was done eating, and I swallowed it greedily.

Looking around the room, I noticed that it was empty again. "What happened?"

"Simon and the other scientists reset the pump, but apparently it was easier to let water into the Pit than it was to pump it out. It'll take the majority of the night, so they decided to call it quits and start digging again tomorrow. By then, the Osirian will be freed, and you and the Doctor will be gone," she explained.

I took another gulp of water from the nearly empty bottle—did the show actually ever show the companions needing food and water, a bathroom break or sleep? Or was that too boring for TV? I had never cared or thought about it before, but I was suddenly more interested now. Maybe Simon wouldn't be so eager to be a companion if he knew how sucky and boring it could also be.

I was starting to become too sleepy to care one way or the other (and it wasn't like I could get them answered anyway) but I still did have a few more questions for the Colonel I wanted to ask before I forgot or the Doctor showed back up. "So what was all that stuff earlier about the low level psychic field or whatever? Why'd you lie?"

A sad look appeared on her face. "You're not from this time, and have probably been exposed to who knows how many aliens." So not true, but I wasn't going to correct her by pointing out it was technically my first adventure with the Doctor and he hadn't even been around for the majority of it. She continued. "So far, the world's exposure to aliens has mainly been from alien invasion, and now some are starting to settle here, and publicly, they're no longer hiding like they used to. There are some groups that just see it as a more subtle alien invasion, and Frank is the head of one. Senator Hirsch pulled some strings with the Canadian government to have Frank's funding revoked if he didn't agree to let us and the Doctor on Oak Island. Not that the Doctor knows that or cares about that or who's toes he steps on."

Wow. That had never been shown on the show before, had it? If it had, I didn't remember, though I supposed it did make sense. I would be anti-alien too if the planet couldn't go more than a week without an alien attack of some type. "How did you manage to pull it off so well though? Especially not even breaking character when telling Frank off?"

Here, the Colonel did allow herself one small smile. "To pull off a lie convincingly, you must first convince yourself. Once you do that, you can convince anybody."

I waited a beat. "Does that mean you've lied to me?"

"Of course not."

* * *

We were back in the Tardis. The Doctor had eventually showed back up, though by the time I had I was falling asleep on a wheelie chair the Colonel had scrounged up somewhere. Apparently she was serious about following her orders concerning the Doctor, and so if he told us two to stay in that room, we stayed in the room.

It had taken some time to convince the Osirian of the Doctor's plan, but eventually he gave in and wore the blocker the Doctor had designed for him. It had taken even longer to convince the alien to go with the Colonel, and wear another device that would make him look human to get off the island and unnoticed by Frank.

Because Frank apparently only cared about aliens on his island and not humans suddenly showing up out of nowhere. Go figure.

Whatever. I was too tired to care anymore. I was also starving, and grimy with dirt from my digging phase. I was in sore need of a shower to wash it all away and cool down seeing as how I felt like my face was on fire. I must have looked like a mess, and because this was reality, I didn't have a make-up artist to fix my hair or face to look nice despite being an adventure with the Doctor.

Stupid spoiled actors who made the adventures look so easy. They were nothing more than highly paid liars.

And I was so jealous.

"Emma?"

I must have zoned out again, and I did my best to concentrate on what the Doctor was saying. It was easy when he shined a bright light into my eyes, which woke me up somewhat. "Good, your concussion is gone, though a good deep sleep wouldn't hurt."

"Thanks." I was so grateful he wasn't about to whisk me off on another adventure. If he had insisted, I probably would have just collapsed on the floor and given up.

"Emma, you did good today. Really good for your first adventure, especially having spent the majority of it without me." Ah, so he had noticed that part, I wondered if he would.

I shrugged. "It was nothing. I mean, sure it was scary at times, but it wasn't that bad. Nobody died, so that's a plus."

He chuckled. "That's always a plus. So what do you say? Do you mind traveling with me for a bit longer before going back to the 1995?"

Maybe it was the sleep deprivation talking, but I didn't mind the adventure as much as I thought I would. I didn't die, and had actually saved a life. Okay, so the Doctor actually did the saving, but I had insisted that there had to another fate for the Osirian so that had to count for something.

And there had also been the adrenaline rush from the near death experiences, and saving the day. I could see why the companions would have such a hard time giving up traveling with the Doctor despite all the danger and craziness, it could be addicting.

"Maybe just a little bit longer," I admitted. I was kind of curious of where we would go next, and if I was honest, there wasn't a need for me to rush back anyway. Everybody thought I was dead anyway, and it wasn't like I had family or friends grieving for me. The person I had been closest to was Deliah, and I doubt her heart would break over me.

The Doctor smiled enthusiastically back at me, and I could tell in his mind I had made the right decision. "Great, just great. Here, I have something for you." He started to rifle through his pockets, before pulling out what he was looking for. "Ah-ha! Your very own TARDIS key." He placed into my hand, and closed it tightly. "Keep it safe."

It felt warm in my hand, which was weird. Where exactly had he been keeping that key? "I will," I promised. After all, how hard could it be to keep track of a key? I'd just get a lanyard or something. "So where exactly are the bedrooms on this thing? Or do I have to sleep on the floor? Because I'm tired enough that I'm okay with that."

"Go down the hallway and the Tardis should have a bedroom free just for you."

"Thanks."

I made my way to the hallway he had mentioned, but he called my name one last time, causing me to stop and turn around. "Emma? You do know you can tell me anything, right?"

I smiled at him and nodded. "Of course. Goodnight Doctor, or whatever passes for night around here."

"Goodnight Emma."

 ****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank Yuuki no Yuki, Idris, notwritten, and AwkwardedOut for their reviews. Reviews are always nice to receive and read when I get a writing block. Yuuki no Yuki mentioned how Emma keeps calling Doctor Who Dr. Who, and that's because she's really not familiar with the show, the same reason she refers to the TARDIS as the Tardis. If I switch them up too in the Author's Note or elsewhere, I don't mean too. I just get use to typing it one way and then don't notice it.

I wanted to get this chapter up at the beginning of May. Unfortunately, mid-April life through me one major curve ball- I was asked to be the Maid of Honor in a wedding that's just a few months away. I've spent the majority of May since then trying to get a weekend for the bridal shower and dress shopping, along with planning said bridal shower and making invitations. The time I would normally spend writing has since been dedicated to wedding stuff and Maid of Honor duties, but that's starting to die down for the time being giving me enough time to write this, all 10,000+ words.

Some notes about this chapter. First, Oak Island is a real place with the Money Pit. Nobody knows what's at the bottom though there are plenty of theories (some listed here) and there has been an issue with flooding. There's still debate over whether or not it's natural. I glossed over some of the details and took liberites with others (like the Pump Station, I don't know if that would work here, but it does in the Doctor Who universe), though if it sounds interesting I suggest you look it up. I don't think the show has ever dealt with the island, but apologies if it already has. When I first heard about it, my mind immediately went to the Doctor.

Second, if it's possible to use a canon alien race I will, hence the Osirian in the chapter. I did try to keep the depiction of the Osirian as faithful as possible, but once again, apologies if I get something wrong about them or how telepathic blockers work. The nice thing about writing alternate universes that feature aliens and sci-fi is that anything is possible even if it can't exist here.

This chapter went in a different direction than I originally expected. I did plan on Emma being affected quicker than the others by the Osirian due to the concussion, but originally the plan was for her to try to use explosives to destroy the station. Then the Colonel showed back up, and the chapter became what it is now. It also has a lot more dialogue than I initially planned, but I think it works. Also, because this story is mainly from Emma's perspective, that means occasionally the Doctor will do stuff off screen that Emma can't possibly know the details about- like going back to when the Osirians first landed, making the deal with the prisoner, etc...

Next chapter is an alien planet with a race of my own creation. It's called, 'Queen for a Day'. Here's a quick peek:

The Doctor shifted around on the bed, and was beginning to come to. Good, it was about time. Now I could finally give him a piece of my mind.

He blinked his eyes opened several times, and took a minute or two to focus on me. "What happened?" he croaked.

 _"Oh, does the great big Time Lord not remember?" I wanted to lean forward closer to him, but the great monstrosity on my head would be too much weight, so I stayed where I was._

 _He closed his eyes, in an effort no doubt to remember what had occurred. Then the suddenly became wide open._

 _"Oh," he said._

 _"Oh," I agreed._

 _"Say it, you know you want to."_

 _Well, I didn't need to be told twice. I grinned at him smugly. "I told you so."_

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and if possible please leave a review.


	7. Queen for a Day

**I do not own the rights to Doctor Who.**

 **Queen for a Day**

The Doctor shifted around on the bed, and was beginning to come to. Good, it was about time. Now I could finally give him a piece of my mind.

He blinked his eyes opened several times, and took a minute or two to focus on me. "What happened?" he croaked.

"Oh, does the great big Time Lord not remember?" I wanted to lean forward closer to him, but the great monstrosity on my head was much too heavy, so I stayed where I was.

He closed his eyes, in an effort no doubt to remember what had occurred. Then they suddenly became wide open once more.

"Oh," he said.

"Oh," I agreed.

"Say it, you know you want to."

Well, I didn't need to be told twice. I grinned at him smugly. "I told you so."

Ever since this whole debacle had begun, I had been dying to say those words to him, out loud. I had actually been repeating them in my head as a mantra, but it was more gratifying saying them to him now that he was awake and could look abashed.

He groaned again, and then his eyes settled on the great monstrosity on my head and my outlandish outfit. "Emma, perhaps my memory is still a bit foggy, but you weren't wearing that earlier, were you? What exactly happened?"

I smirked at him and said as nonchalantly as possible, "Well, while you were busy sleeping, I got tricked into marrying a king, became a queen, then a widow, was imprisoned, and then started a revolution. But how about I just start at the beginning?"

He blanched slightly. "That would be nice."

* * *

Once I found a door that opened to a room, I collapsed on the bed, not paying much attention to my surroundings. I was far too tired to care about the details of the room, or the fact that I didn't even bother to change out of my clothes or get under the sheets. Honestly, it could have been a sleeping bag for all I cared.

Waking up was another matter entirely. It was like waking up in the middle of the night during my freshman year of college. It wasn't my usual room, and I had to take a few minutes to remind myself of where I was, and why I wasn't at home.

Even more disconcerting was its resemblance to my freshmen door room. It had the white cinderblock walls, the dotted ceiling tiles, and laminate tile flooring. Somehow in my exhausted state I had managed to climb up on the ladder of the bunk bed without injuring myself. Climbing back down I found that there wasn't a lower and more easily accessible bed underneath me, but a desk with a chair and a lamp.

Well at least I hadn't mistaken that for a bed.

There was also a mini-fridge in the room filled with drinks and snacks like fruit and yogurt, and a microwave on top. While it was nice to see some food (something my stomach appreciated, loudly) I did hope there was a kitchen around here for something a bit more decent. Snacks could only keep me going for so long before I would need a real meal.

A small bookcase stood against the far wall, right underneath a window that showed some trees around a small pond or lake. Curious as to see how real it was, I opened the window and was greeted with a cool breeze and the sound of birds chirping.

It was real, so real. But it couldn't be could it? Was the Tardis really big enough to have its own scenery and outdoors on the inside?

To the left of the window was a wardrobe with several shirts and jeans hung up that looked like they were my size and style. Beneath them were several different types of shoes—most of them sneakers, which was a good thing if I'd be running just as much as the characters on the show—that also looked to be in my size.

Had the Doctor set all of this up, or was it the Tardis? Exactly how intelligent was the ship?

I continued along the left side of the room and found a sink complete with a new toothbrush, some toothpaste, a towel and some soap. Over the sink was a mirror, and I groaned once I saw my reflection.

My face was tomato red, the result of a sunburn from Oak Island. My hair wasn't better off, it was tangled and looked as if it hadn't seen a hairbrush in years, and I could make out bits of dirt and who knows what else from the island sprinkled throughout it.

There was no way I was going to face the Doctor looking like this now that I had enough sleep to care about my appearance, and thankfully there was a door leading to a small bathroom right next to the sink. Inside was a small shower with shower caddy hanging from a hook nearby, towels hanging on the wall, and a toilet.

Just like in college.

A little bit later (seeing as how I'd yet to see a clock) I was showered, wearing clean clothes, had a sunburnt face covered in lotion, a full stomach (after finding a kitchen down the hallway that would make an Iron Chef weep, but a girl who lives on mac and cheese and frozen pizza weep for an entirely different reason) I was in the main room with all the levers and whatchamacallits doodads.

The Doctor was there already, not that I expected it differently. Though I did wonder if he ever left the room and did normal things like sleeping and eating. I mean, sure he was an alien but even aliens needed to take breaks, right?

His head bobbed up from whatever screen he was looking at. "Emma, there you—" His voice trailed off as his eyes widened, no doubt taking in my beet-red face. He cleared his throat nervously, and decided not to mention it. "Yes, well, I was thinking that since we just traveled through time, we should travel through space next. What do you think?"

I trailed my head over the center circular thing, mulling over his words. "That sounds… nice."

"Nice?" he asked, slightly deflated, and I knew that if I would have looked at his face he would have that hurt-kicked-puppy-dog look he had perfected so well.

"Yeah, nice," I agreed, trying to figure out the best way to explain my reluctance. "It's just that… well… the past couple times, well two times actually, that I've been with you, have been rather dangerous, and I'm just afraid that the next time, I won't be as lucky."

There, I said it.

Despite me giving into the idea of traveling with the Doctor, I was still hesitant about walking outside of the doors into the unknown harrowing adventure that was surely awaiting me.

Call me a wimp, call me a coward, call me what you will, but there was still a part of my brain that screamed, you might not escape with your life this time. Which, was perfectly valid due to the two near death experiences I had already had, with a side of mind control thrown in as well.

"Emma, I promise I won't let anything happen to you." His hand pulled my chin up, forcing me to look into those green eyes I had been so determined to avoid. "I promise."

His eyes seemed to sparkle in the light, so full of hope and desire, and I just couldn't bear to say no to them. Curse him and those eyes. He could end wars with those eyes. Or start them if he so chose.

"Okay."

His demeanor changed instantly. His eyes took on an extra shine to them, and he started to pull on several different levers and switches. "Excellent, I know the perfect planet. It's called Varigatia and because of how far away the sun is, it's usually in some sort of everlasting twilight. Due to the lack of sunlight, the plants and animals have adapted to other forms of light, and well, it's better for you to just see in person rather than explain. And then there's the inhabitants, lovely peaceful people who make up for their pale skin by adorning themselves in all sorts of colorful accessories. The more color, the more powerful and important the person is. In fact they once…"

I tuned him out after that, amazed he could talk all that time without taking a single breath. While I was sure that it was all absolutely riveting, I really didn't care that much—I still yet to make up my mind whether or not I was going to leave the Tardis.

It wasn't like I could stay here forever, I knew that. But did I really want to go back out there and into potential danger? I don't think there were any episodes that nothing ever happened. That'd be too boring for evening television.

* * *

"So?"

The Doctor was still looking expectantly at me, waiting for me to begin my tale. The issue was, I really didn't know where to begin. So much had happened in such a short period of time.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

I figured that was as good of as a starting point as any. No sense in me recapping things he already knows.

He took a moment, resting his eyes as he tried to remember the exact moment when things went fuzzy. "I had just convinced you to come outside. We were looking around and enjoying the view when I bent down, and well, you know… and I'm afraid everything after that is a bit of a blank."

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "You mean after you acted like an idiot and popped a random blade of grass into your mouth like it was a piece of gum?"

"Yes, that…" He paused for a second. "But I'm a Time Lord, a blade of grass shouldn't have affected me like that."

"Except you didn't account for the dye they spray the grass with to get it that extra vivid green color. According to the Palace Healer, there's some fancy chemical whose name I cannot pronounce, that your fancy Time Lord body had a reaction to," I pointed out.

"Ah," he conceded. "They stopped doing that centuries ago, back when…" he paused for a second as he came to a realization, his face draining of the little color that was in it. "Back during the Monarchy Era."

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, I wonder why they stopped doing that." I paused, as his words started to sink in. "So, why I don't pick up from where you left off? After the blade of grass?"

* * *

The Doctor had undersold exactly how breath-taking the planet was. There may not have been a sun, but that didn't mean the planet was in pitch black. Instead, there was a soft blue haze everywhere, that took some getting used to, but once you did it felt like you had walked into some sort of fairytale world.

Everything from the trees to the plants to the skies, glowed fluorescently, altering between neon blues, greens, and purples. The slightest bit of a breeze would go by, and the grass—the vivid green grass— would ripple due its touch and change to a different color. There were little lighting bugs—at least I assumed that's what they were—flying through the air, glowing just as magically as the rest of the planet.

For one brief moment I felt like I was five years-old and fairies and magic and everything else was possible.

The Doctor didn't even say anything, probably not wanting to break the magical spell or just happy that we had yet to encounter any danger. It was perhaps the best moment I had experienced in quite a well, probably not since before I ended up here.

I closed my eyes, hoping to remember it forever, and wishing I had thought to bring a camera with me. The closest I would ever get to such a scene again would only be thanks to Photoshop.

Then the Doctor ruined it by having to show off his ability to guess what the year was by licking grass, only to end up fainting after I explicitly warned him from doing so.

I didn't expect any less, really. I was quickly learning that if you wanted to travel with the Doctor, it was best to be a Boy Scout and be prepared for anything, or whatever their motto was.

When it first happened, I just stood there for a few minutes waiting for him to pop right back up like nothing. When it became clear that he wasn't going to be fine, I started to gently shake him, and then added a bit of yelling.

A quick check of his pulse (the two heartbeats threw me for a loop at first) indicated that he was alive, and he was breathing. It almost looked as if he was sleeping, but tiny drops of sweat started to appear on his forehead, the beginnings of a fever.

Hopefully the Tardis had a hospital or something complete with Time Lord medical stuff and instructions for how to use said medical stuff, because I didn't know the first thing about what was going on or how to deal with it, and I'd be the worse companion ever if I just let him die on some alien planet.

Which would also leave me stuck on an alien planet all by myself and would also be bad.

And it's not like he could die anyway, he didn't on the show, so it wasn't like he was in any actual danger.

Right?

Then again, I hadn't been on the show either, so maybe my presence was starting to change things…

"You there, what are you doing on his Majesty's private lawns?"

Uh-oh.

I wasn't exactly surprised that the Doctor had landed his ship on the lawns of a King, it was just the sort of thing he'd do (like licking grass only to have it knock him out cold), except this time the Doctor wasn't conscious enough to flap his arms around and sweet-talk his way out of danger, and the only aliens I had ever conversed with were interrogating me or plotting my demise.

The owner of the voice was a short man. His skin was so white he could have been related to Casper, and while his hair wasn't white, it was a pale blond that was close to white. It was tied back with a striped white and purple ribbon that matched a striped white and purple sash around his waist on an otherwise completely white suit.

"Um…" I looked down at the Doctor and back to the Casper look-alike, unsure of how to explain what exactly was going on and avoid being thrown into a dungeon.

Did they do that around here?

For some reason as soon as I stood up and turned around to face him, the man started to get a bit flustered. He bowed deeply to me, and held the bow. "I'm sorry milady, please forgive my impudence. A noble such as yourself surely has reason to be here that this poor servant knows not. If there is anything that you require of this lowly person, merely speak your request and it shall be yours."

I actually took a moment to look around to make sure there was nobody behind me. I'd never been mistaken for a lady before, let alone in jeans, a t-shirt and a sunburnt face.

Well, he did say if I had any request…

"Do you have a hospital around here?"

* * *

"Really, that's it? You just requested for a hospital? What about the TARDIS?"

Damn, I had hoped he wouldn't have asked and just assumed I'd rather a professional serve him than try it myself.

"You lost the key, didn't you?"

"No, I did not lose the key." Honestly, that was his first thought? He continued to look at me, waiting for an answer. "I left it in the Tardis, okay? I took it off when I was getting ready to shower and forgot to put it back on. Before Jeffri—"

"Jeffri?"

"Yes, Jeffri, the servant who showed up and was all, 'I'm so sorry milady'. Anyway, before he showed up, I did try to get into the Tardis, but couldn't and realized I had forgotten the key inside, and then Jeffri did show up and was practically groveling at my feet for forgiveness, and I thought hey, maybe he knows an actual doctor? There, happy? Now can I continue on with what happened?"

"Go on."

* * *

While there wasn't a nearby hospital, the palace did have an infirmary, complete with a Healer that was reminiscent of Madame Pomphrey. The Healer was actually called Healer Graham, and looked old enough to be my dad. Instead of light yellow hair, his was colored a neon green, and was wearing green robes that matched and fluoresced in the light.

He didn't have any experience with Time Lords, but theorized that the special dye that was used on the grass to keep it the same consistent vibrant shade of color, may have caused some sort of reaction with his body. After taking several readings he assured me that the Doctor would be fine, and just needed to sleep and sweat out the dye, he'd be fine in about a day.

I lasted about thirty minutes watching the Doctor's chest rise and fall, while he continued to sweat out whatever it was in his system that had made him faint faster than Snow White after taking a bite out of a poisoned apple. Healer Graham and his associates would stop by every few minutes to ensure that the fever wasn't progressing farther than expected, or worse symptoms didn't show up.

All in all, it was rather boring and I was slowly losing my mind. Nobody else seemed overly concerned about his untimely demise, so I didn't see why I should be either. And rather than continue to stare at his unconscious form while wishing for my phone, tablet, a book, or something to do, I decided to take Healer Graham's advice to get up and explore the rest of the palace. He'd said that he'd send one of the novice healers to find me once the Doctor woke up.

For being an alien palace, it wasn't really that alien. The architecture was similar to that of the Romans and Greeks with ornate arches and columns. There were murals and mosaics everywhere—from the tiniest of details around the windows which looked out onto the lawn where the Doctor and I had arrived, and gardens filled with iridescent flowers that glowed so brightly I could still see them from what had to be a football field away—to an entire ceiling depicting some historic battle that was itself the length of a football field.

In the bright daylight, all the color and details might have been tacky and overwhelming, but with the soft blue dusk, seemed to be softened just enough to be enjoyable, and keep my eyes awake when they otherwise might have been lulled to sleep.

I was standing by one of the windows, looking out onto what had to be the fifth garden I had found, for I was still too chicken to open the doors lining the long hallways not able to handle whatever groups of aliens lurked behind them and staring at me, when somebody else joined me. It was a surprise honestly, for I had yet to see anybody else in the palace besides the healers—not staff, not inhabitants, I was starting to wonder if it was deserted, or if everybody was sleeping behind those doors (further reason as to not disturb them).

He was of medium height, though his face was obscured by the massive amount of make-up plastered on it, making him look like a clown. I don't think I ever owned that much make-up. The thing was, it didn't make him look trashy or horrible. It was artfully done, making his face look just as much of a masterpiece as the mosaics and murals scattered around the palace.

The outer edges of his face was a dark purple, that started to get lighter as it got closer to his eyes, eventually turning into shades of blue. There were specks of yellow and green scattered across his face, making it look like the night sky. His hair was either powdered or dyed a deep purple, with twinkling lights somehow scattered throughout, though they looked perfectly natural. Completing the elegant look, was a vibrant robe that varied in shades from a rich chartreuse to a lighter sky blue, with twinkling lights as well. And that wasn't even accounting for all the jewels on his fingers or sewn into his robes.

It was breath-taking, and I was staring at him like an idiot with my mouth wide open. I felt completely underdressed in my jeans and purple t-shirt, and wouldn't have been surprised if I was thrown into the dungeon for wearing jeans. Not that I would have blamed them.

Instead of yelling at me like Jeffri, or calling for guards to carry me away, he smiled widely. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before."

I smiled back at him, thankful the conversation had taken on a more pleasant tone. "That's because this is my first time here. I was traveling, and my companion—"

* * *

"Companion?" interrupted the Doctor. "I'm your companion?"

He made it sound like I had just insulted his honor. I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. "Well, what I was supposed to call you? An acquaintance? The alien I'm traveling with? The guy who decided it'd be a great idea to stick an alien piece of grass into his mouth?"

There was a moment of silence as he mulled over my words. "I suppose companion works fine then."

"Thanks."

* * *

"—had a mishap, and he's in the infirmary now. Healer Graham said he'd be fine in a couple hours, and suggested exploring the palace, which is what I'm doing right now."

"Ah, I see. You must have been certainly quite distressed then. I assure you that Healer Graham is the finest healer on the entire planet, so you can put any worries you have about your companion at ease. So, how you finding it?"

"Pretty," I admitted, grateful the small talk was going well, and a trip to the dungeon was not in my immediate future. "Everything around here is gorgeous to look at from the walls to the floors to the gardens." With a small wave of my hand I pointed to them, and gave them one last admiring look before turning back to the newcomer.

He stepped closer to the window, and gazed out towards them. "They are beautiful, but not as beautiful as their newest admirer."

Thank goodness for the sunburn, for my cheeks were starting to turn red.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure they're just going green with envy."

He smiled again, and the urge to slap my forehead after what I thought was a fail flirting attempt went away. "You know, there is a flower that's off limits to all except myself, that's even more exquisite than the gardens. It's known as the Trothal Jewel. Would you wish to see it with me?"

"Sure, that sounds wonderful."

"Are you sure that your," he paused for a second, "companion, won't seem to mind? He won't be upset at the idea of another escorting you?"

I blinked at him, unsure of what he was asking me. Another escorting me? Another what? Shaking my head at him, I responded. "The Doctor? Nah, he'll probably just be mad you didn't ask him instead. Besides, he is not my escort. Like I said before, he's just my companion who I travel with and we look after each other."

You know, when one of us gets into dangerous situations so as being mind-controlled or licking grass.

"Ah, I see, so he's more like a guardian then?"

I shrugged, not quite liking that it implied I was a child who needed looking after when it seemed more like the opposite was true, but really didn't want to spend any more time trying to define our relationship.

"I suppose you could call him that."

"Wonderful."

Looking back, I really should have known something was up as soon as the Cheshire Cat grin appeared on his face at those words.

* * *

"No, no, no, I must definitely do mind! Why would you agreed to see the Trothal Jewel? With HIM? Why would you agree to do THAT?! And for the record, when we're on alien planets, I must definitely am your guardian!"

"Because I thought I was being nice, okay? When in Rome and all that jazz," I said snapping at the Doctor's outburst.

"Do you have any idea what the Trothal Jewel is?!"

"Well I do now, but a nice little history lesson beforehand would have been appreciated. Now, will you shut up so I can finish telling you what happened? I can't get through what happened with you interrupting me every five minutes."

"Alright then, continue."

* * *

The Trothal Jewel was housed in a private round greenhouse near the gardens. It was in the center of the room, with glass windows all above it, bathing it just perfectly in the dusky light. There were some servants there when we entered, wearing the same white outfit with a striped belt and hair tie as Jeffri, but they quickly scattered, leaving the two of us alone.

The flower, despite the fact it could fit in just one of my hands, was just as breath-taking as promised. The petals were a rich onyx black, but they had swirls of purple and blue mixed in on the leaves. The colors and patterns reminded me of those scratchy things I would be forced to do in art classes, where we'd be given a black paper and scratch a pattern into it, revealing the different colors underneath.

"Isn't it just as exquisite as promised?"

"I actually think you may have undersold it a little," I teased.

"Would you like to touch the petals?"

"Sure."

* * *

"You agreed to touch the petals?!"

"Yes, I agreed to touch the petals. Seriously, stop interrupting me. Do I have to get another blade of grass to knock you out?"

* * *

The petals were silky smooth, and wherever I touched them, they lit up briefly in a soft green, before fading back to their typical coloring.

"It really is beautiful," I said, continuing to stroke the petals gently. I probably would have continued to do so forever if he hadn't pulled my hands away.

"I think that's enough for now. Why don't you go change for dinner?"

My head jerked up in surprise, and my hands dropped from the petals. "Change… for dinner?" Due to the lack of people, I had assumed we had arrived in the middle of the night, so finding out that I was being invited to dinner was unexpected. The fact that I was supposed to change, less so.

"Oh yes, I'll see to it that the servants will see to everything. Only the very best for you, my dear."

* * *

"So that's how…" the Doctor waved his fingers around in the air towards me.

"Yep, that's how I ended up with this monstrosity on my head."

* * *

When I was younger, my cousins and I would pretend that we were princesses by walking around while trying to balance books on our heads. None of us could take more than a few steps before the books would slip off and thump loudly on the floor, but it was fun to pretend, especially when we insisted on keeping our pinkies out during the whole thing.

This was similar to that. Except instead of being fun it was awful. There were a million alien bobby pins jabbed into my head; if there were any sharper they'd be stabbing my brain. But if they hadn't been there, the monstrosity of a head piece would have fallen off my head.

The monstrosity was a scaled up version of the Trothal Jewel, except made out of what felt like the heaviest metal in existence. Making up the colors on the petals were tiny gems that looked pretty and sparkly, but only added to the weight on my head. I was afraid to take even one step away from the mirror I had been directed to, in case it fell off.

I was pretty sure I'd definitely be thrown into the dungeon if I broke what had to surely be an old and extremely valuable monstrosity. Why they'd ever thought to trust me with something like it was beyond me at the time.

An entire team of servants had dressed me, not saying much other than directing each other what to do. I had given up after the first few minutes of them ignoring my feeble attempts at small talk, instead lapsing into uncomfortable silence as they threw me into a tub full of freezing water, scrubbed me down, plucked my eyebrows, did my hair, and put me in a dress that matched the monstrosity on my head. Thankfully they left my sunburned face alone and didn't coat it in make-up, though they did insist on touching it several times not quite believing it was natural. Apparently sunburns weren't a thing on this planet. They stopped after I started waving their hands away whenever they came close to my face and my attempt at an explanation was met with confused looks.

It was all insanely weird, but I was on an alien planet, for all I knew this was how they treated all of their interplanetary guests.

* * *

"It's not, well, usually not, though sometimes, but that's usually due to the psychic paper…" protested the Doctor, but finally noticed my raised eyebrow. "Fine, go on, continue."

* * *

The dress was more like a kimono with the long sleeves and the way it wrapped around me. It was hard to walk in, so I didn't protest too much when one of the servants insisted I sit down on one of those pallet things you'd see in movies of the olden days.

* * *

"Olden days?"

"Olden days, you know, back before there were cars and trains and the only forms of transportation was horse and pallets. You know, the olden days."

"Remind me to show you the library in the TARDIS later so you can crack open some history books."

"Noted."

* * *

The banquet hall was just as gorgeous as expected, though all the colors were starting to hurt my eyes. Rather than trying to seek out all the little details that would no doubt swim before my eyes, I instead concentrated on the plate of food before me.

I didn't know what any of it was, and it didn't help that the food came in just as many colors as the rest of the décor. There were some blue looking thing that acted like meat when I stabbed it with a fork, some purple mush that looked like mashed potatoes, and some black sweet smelling little grape-like things that I had piled onto my plate before passing it on to the person next to me.

Not that I was actually eating any of it. It looked too weird, smelled too weird, and for all I knew it could be human. It made me feel sick to my stomach rather than hungry, so I spent the majority of the time pushing it around on my plate to make it appear as if I was actually eating, especially the blue meat.

* * *

"You humans, always so picky. What's wrong with blue meat?"

"You mean other than not knowing where it comes from? What if it's human?"

"Human? What makes you think that'd the king would have served you human? Where would you get a crazy idea like that?"

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Can you honestly tell me that there's not some weird corner of the universe where human isn't considered a rare delicacy, or something that belongs on the menu of an alien McDonald's?"

A dark look descended over his face, and I instantly regretted my question. It had really been said in jest, an afterthought from that one Twilight Zone episode. Though judging from the look, I really didn't want to know the answer to my question. "Besides, there was also the whole issue of whether or not it was edible, or maybe poisonous to my system. Like a blade of grass for instance."

"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope, not a chance."

* * *

I continued to move food around my plate and nibbling lightly, silently promising my stomach that I'd more than make up for it once the Doctor was awake and we were both on the Tardis. I also pretended not to notice the constant stares from those around me, mostly directed at my new head piece. They were coming from those seated at the table, all wearing exorbitant amounts of multicolored makeup and hair, though none as opulent as the man sitting next to me, whose name I realized I didn't even know.

He had just showed up so suddenly and asked me to look at the pretty flower before sending me off to get ready for dinner, it had never occurred to me to do so. He was clearly the center of attention though, waving his hands around and sending the servants—who were dressed just as plainly as the gardener from earlier with the striped belts as the only source of color—with plates of food, and asking for even more exotic dishes to be brought out.

Occasionally he would flash a smile at me or ask what I thought of the food and I'd just politely nod and smile in return.

Finally he stood, and all of the others in the room stood as well. Sensing I was supposed to as well, I shakily managed it, but clutched onto the table for support so I wouldn't tip over. As it turned out, that was actually a smart move on my part.

Clanging his glass with fork, he began to speak. "As you all can see, we now have a new queen, perhaps the most beautiful and exotic one in our history." He paused giving me a smarmy look, as if I was some giant stuffed animal he had just won at a ring toss, and I offered him a faint smile in return, grateful he couldn't see the blood draining from my face thanks to the sunburn. I really, really should have asked him his name.

He continued. "We participated in the Trothal Ceremony a few hours ago, and tomorrow we shall renew our vows for all the world to see! Long live Queen Emma of Varigatia!"

There were numerous cheers from the crowd along with the clattering of glasses to the line, "Long live the queen!" but I was not one of them. I was too busy absorbing everything he had just said—namely the fact that I was now not only married, but a queen.

"You look positively radiant my darling," he said, and grabbed my arm helping me sit down at the same time as him. Considering that I needed help sitting down at that point due to shock, I couldn't have been that radiant. The distress must have shown on my face because he asked, "Is something wrong dear?"

"You can say that," I replied back as a plate of what looked to be green cake was placed in front of me. "I didn't know that when you offered to show me your flower, that you were offering marriage, I thought you were just an avid gardener!"

I had honestly thought he just liked plants. If the king of the Verigatia had his grass dyed the proper shade of green, why wouldn't they like to show off rare flowers around here?

He started to eat his slice of cake and shook his head dismissively at me. "Everybody knows of the Trothal Ceremony; the Trothal Flower is quite well-known throughout the galaxy."

"Yeah, except for me. Remember how I mentioned I was just passing through with my companion—"

"Your companion who you mentioned was not your escort and had absolutely no romantic connection with," he added, causing me to roll my eyes, partly at him for bringing it up and partly at myself for completely missing the true point of it earlier. "Besides, it's too late now, you are now my wife—only death can separate us. You're not planning on dying anytime soon, are you?"

I shook my head. It was pointless to argue really. As soon as the Doctor woke up we could leave the planet and pretend it never happened. He may have been a king, but I had access to a time machine so even if he sent an army after me it wasn't like he could catch me. I doubted arguing with him could really do that much anyway, other than perhaps sharing a similar fate with one of the wives of King Henry VIII.

"Nope, no time soon," I assured him. "Really looking forward to this whole queen thing."

He chuckled at my response, and whatever danger my life might have been in seemed to pass. "Are you going to eat that?"

What little appetite I had left died upon finding out I was now married, and the realization of the tradition of one's wedding night. When my cousin had gotten married, she said her and new groom had been tired to do anything, so maybe I could claim the same, and it really wouldn't be that much of a lie.

I started praying that the Doctor would wake soon, the meal would never end, an asteroid would crash, there would be a fire—just something, anything really to distract myself from the dark path my mind was starting to take.

Well, anything except what really did happen of course. The king was barely into his second bite of the green cake when his head fell face first on top of it with a ka-thunk. It was hard to tell at first, but his face was turning an unnatural shade of blue and then purple underneath the make-up.

Chaos descended upon the room with servants and those seated among us leaping into action attempting to revive him before one robust man who was seated on the king's other side started shaking a finger at me. "You all saw it! She poisoned her dish and served it to him! She did it, she killed the king, no doubt lying in league with the rebels! She must be punished!"

* * *

"Really?" I asked, taken aback by his unusual silence when I had grown so used to him interrupting me every other minute. "No comments? No remarks on my accidental marriage, sudden widow status, and being accused of murder all in one evening?"

"Yeah, well," he said, shrugging off my question. "You kind of gave it already, didn't you? Spoilers and all."

If I could get away with slinking down in my chair I would have. So yeah, I already told him the highlights earlier and he had an idea on how things turned out, but he could at least show interest in the parts he should be interested in.

"So, the guards—"

He waved a hand at me, interrupting me before I could even get out a sentence, a first actually so far. "Yeah, yeah, know that bit. Guards arrest you take you the dungeon—don't look at me like that, we're in a castle with a king, there's always a dungeon where they take prisoners. I should know, I've been in quite a few. Skip to the exciting bit, the revolution."

That was actually skipping quite a bit, but if he wanted the exciting bit he would get the exciting bit.

* * *

Another minute of silence passed between the two of us before the Doctor spoke up again. "Well, aren't you going to continue?"

I rolled my eyes at him, and took a drink of water from a glass on the table next to me, taking my time so I wouldn't spill it on the way to my mouth. "I needed a break to rest my voice, okay?"

"Okay. When you're ready, feel free to continue."

* * *

So there we were, cornered, with our backs against the wall and an army of guards barreling towards us with little to no chance of escape. Jeffri got in front, trying his best to act as some sort of shield between me and the guards. Seeing the nice and pointy swords they had at their disposal, his act of 'protection' seemed rather pointless, but was appreciated.

Leading the pack was the newly crowned king of Varigatia, King Purpureus, who I had to keep reminding myself was not named King Purpose or King Porpoise (I had yet to learn the name of the former king and my husband). His carefully applied make-up couldn't conceal the flush creeping into his cheeks. Whether it was from the physical excertion of chasing me throughout the palace—which was no easy feat considering the monstrosity was still on my head—or from anger from my blunt refusal of his marriage proposal (once that day was enough), I didn't know, and really didn't care to ask.

"Guards, seize her and her accomplishes! Make an example of those who dare to defy the House of Varigatia!" Given the fact that he was wheezing his order with his hands on his knees in an attempt to steady himself, it was safe to say the former explanation was more correct than the latter.

The guards moved forward, parting around the king much like a river does when it meets a boulder in its path. Jeffri continued his best efforts to act as a shield, but the king just laughed—well more like wheezed—in his face.

"Really boy, you continue to defy your king? Even when you've already lost?"

"You are no king of mine," Jeffri spat out as the guards forced him to his knees. "And as long as there is hope, we will never truly lose. We might lose this battle, but not the war."

My chest puffed up quite a bit in pride at the fact he was repeating the very words I had spoken to him not an hour ago when we had both been trying to come up with a way to escape the dungeon. He was in for punching one of the nobles who had been a bit too friendly with his sister, who happened to be one of the servers at the feast. Apparently striking a member of the upper class was a big no-no, and the sentence was death.

Hence the air of despair about him when I was thrown into the same cell block. After giving a brief recap of what he missed after his ill-fated punch, he informed me of the darker side of Varigatia, including the growing resentment of the noble class—called the Cold Class due to them being the only ones allowed to wear shades of green, blue, and indigo. Jeffri was only allowed to wear purple to show his status as a servant to the king, and even then it was only as a stripe paired with white, which in Varigatia meant one had no status at all. Not only that—

* * *

"Yes, yes, the politics and social order of Varigatia's Monarchy Era were quite complex, I know that all ready. Get back to the exciting stuff, like how you escaped death."

I glared at him, after being interrupted for the umpteenth time. "In order to escape death, I had to first escape the dungeon. Which I did so only after giving Jeffri enough hope to boost his confidence so I could convince him to distract the king when he came and offered me a chance to save myself by marrying him. Jeffri distracted the king and guard by attacking them, I got the key to the cell and freed us and several other political prisoners after they left. Given the fact that I had only minutes to come up with it and did it all by myself without your help, I just wanted a little bit of acknowledgement, is that too much to ask?!"

"It was a very impressive plan," he said as he waved a hand in my direction. "But get to the exciting bits."

Ugh. He really was like a child, easily distracted and only interested in the 'exciting' parts of a story.

Then again, what else did I expect from a guy who stuck random objects in his mouth?

* * *

So back to the exciting stuff.

The king didn't take Jeffri's words lightly. "Be like that. When you're finish with this lot, seize their families," and, starring directly at me, his words took on an icier tone, "and companions. Perhaps by forcing their loved ones to share the same fate as themselves, future uprisings will be crushed before then can even begin. How's that for your precious hope?" he sneered.

Up to this point, my concern had only been for myself, mainly keep myself alive long enough until the Doctor woke up. Sure, there had been the other prisoners running around with me that I didn't want to see hurt, but the Doctor was still safe in the infirmary recovering from the poisoning, and had been pretty much forgotten about up to this point.

Until now. The old king must have mentioned him to his brother before he died who was now using the Doctor against me.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised it took him this long to use the Doctor's well-being as leverage.

"Wait!" I cried out as the guards made a move towards me, now that my Jeffri-shield was out of commission. An idea was forming in my brain, based on something Jeffri had mentioned during the non-exciting bits earlier—namely how the Trothal Jewel worked. The king had seemed just too eager for me to say yes at the time, promising everything in the kingdom (well, other than freedom for my fellow prisoners, he did have his principles after all), and if what Jeffri said was true….

"I demand an audience with the Trothal Jewel, as is my right as the Queen of Varigatia."

The guards stopped in their tracks unsure of how to react while King Purpureus started to splutter. "You- you have no right, you poisoned the king. Guards seize her!"

"And when exactly did I have time to do that? I arrived here a few hours ago with my companion, not knowing anything about this land or people, not even knowing what the Trothal Jewel was or what the king looked like. After the ceremony I was whisked away to get dressed for dinner, and we all know how that ended. So please, tell me when did I time to plot to kill the king and enact said plan?"

King Purpurpeus's face started to take on a vibrant shade of red again, but the guards had yet to move. "She's lying! Her and her companion came here looking to kill the king! Well, what are you waiting for?"

One of the lead guards who had been busy slapping manacles on Jeffri (who was kneeling on the floor, but was still managing a defiant and determined look about him) spoke next, surprising me. "Except, what does she have to gain exactly, from his death, Your Majesty? She was a queen before his death, and in accordance with the Law of Succession, she is a queen after his death. You however…"

His voice trailed off at the implications, letting the others fill in the blanks. From the look the king was giving him, I could tell he wanted to choke the guard Bart Simpson style if he could only manage to get his meaty hands around his neck.

"Why you…. Guards, arrest your fellow guard for insubordination and treason against the crown!"

None of them moved, and the guard who had spoken pulled Jeffri to his feet and released the manacles from his hands.

"No," said another, who looked just as burly and intimidating as the first. "We've all seen you eyeing your brother's crown for years."

The others slowly started to murmur in agreement.

"…caught him on the king's throne that one time, I did…"

"…practically prances around the place like he already owned it…"

"…heard he was in the kitchen earlier trying out the pastries…"

"…was the first to mention poison…"

The lead guard held up a hand. "Enough." All of the chattering stopped at once. "I've heard plenty. As Head of the King's Guards I say we pay a visit to the Trothal Jewel to settle this. If it blooms in front of the queen, then she is the true ruler of Varigatia and is innocent of any wrong doing. If it fails, then she is guilty, and you are the true ruler."

There were mumbles of agreement from other guards, but given the bug-eyed panicky appearance of the king, it was clear that the Trothal Jewel might not be needed after all. The only color that remained on his face was the make-up, and even that had started to smudge and disappear due to all of his huffing and puffing from earlier, and the beads of sweat and terror that had appeared on his face.

If his guilt wasn't obvious before, it certainly was now.

* * *

He didn't go willingly to the greenhouse and had to be dragged there in chains by the guards—the very same chains that had been on Jeffri earlier to my amusement. There was quite a large group of us actually—not just the guards and former prisoners, but servants and nobles who had seen us passing by and decided to join us on the way to the Greenhouse. I can't say that I blamed them given their new king was in chains, and their former queen who had been imprisoned by said king was free.

There was actually an excited buzz in the air, as if we were merely on our way to a parade, or a sporting event. I doubt the majority of them even knew our true destination (though there was a lot of chatter going on behind me, between those in the same class system of course).

Eventually we made it to the Greenhouse, though only about the first half of the group fit into it, with the others clamoring around the glass windows in order to watch what was about to happen.

Honestly, it was nowhere as exciting as the events leading up to it had been. The flower lit up before me just as it had earlier, once I asked for it to recognize its true queen, and I was declared the legitimate ruler. Rather than face a trial or imprisonment, King Purpureus swallowed a small vial of poison he had leftover from dosing the cake to kill his brother, and had carefully hidden in his robes.

Before doing so, he did explain that the king wasn't supposed to have died so quickly. Apparently he hadn't counted on me giving up my slice of cake (which was actually a Varigatian delicacy so famous that giving up a slice was inconceivable), that was also poisoned. The king then ended up with a double dose of poison, which hastened his death, and prevented his brother from having an alibi by being elsewhere when the king and myself died.

As far as I was concerned, it was one more point in my favor of not eating foods I didn't know.

* * *

"Which brings us back to here," I said, gesturing to the room we were in. "I was actually on my way to get changed out of this when you started waking up."

"Ah," he said, and sunk back into his pile of pillows. "So tell me, what are your plans now Your Majesty?"

I scrunched my nose up at the title. It had been weird enough being addressed by the servants and nobles, let alone coming from the Doctor. Partly because I was American and the closest I had gotten to royalty had been at Disney World, and partly because I wasn't used to giving out orders, I was usually the one taking them.

"This whole class system needs to end."

During my summary to the Doctor I had never really delved too closely into it—there was no reason when he already seemed aware of it. But during my brief time glimpsing the surface of it, it was enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth. From the interactions I had seen occurring between the nobles and the servants, to the stories Jeffri and the other prisoners had told me about how they ended up in the dungeon, and how it was just an accepted fact of life here, something had to change. Luckily, the Doctor had pretty much spoiled that things were going to change.

"On the way back to the infirmary, I tried explaining democracy, the Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence, but my knowledge of them is sketchy at best. I know the concepts, but not the details. I was hoping that you might have some actual copies on the Tardis to help them out, you know, in your Indiana Jones room?"

"For the last time, I do not have an Indiana Jones room!"

* * *

The Doctor could have insisted all he wanted, but given the amount of old and historical looking stuff that was tossed half-hazardily on shelves and piles on the floor, he did have an Indiana Jones room. It may not have been as neat and organized as in the movie, and it may not have contained objects as dangerous as the Ark of the Convent (according to him that was all stored in another room that I was absolutely not allowed into under any circumstances without him being present, which I really didn't need to be told twice), but it still contained objects that looked as if it belonged tucked away in some dusty corner of a museum rather than an alien's storage room.

After squeezing past several marble statues, three muskets, an old-fashioned printing press, half a dozen paintings, a cannon, a giant penny, a long spear, we finally made it to the corner where according to him, had the desired documents stored.

Given the state of the room I was honestly expecting him to find them not there, and be led around again in search, but to my surprise, he did pull out a genuine copy of the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution.

"Ah-ha!" he exclaimed, holding it up for me to get a closer look at. Given its age I had expected it to be yellowed and falling apart with holes and tears in it. However, it looked as if it could have been penned yesterday, there was even the fresh air of ink surrounding it. I guess storing it in a time machine rather than a museum where it really belonged had some perks after all.

As we made our way back out of the maze of stuff and outside where an eager crowd of Varigatians were waiting to discuss their new government a thought occurred to me. "Don't get me wrong, it's really cool seeing a real copy, but don't you have a library with books with just the text? That's all I really wanted, I was only joking about your Indiana Jones room."

The look he gave me was one might gave to a person who suggested they just try the generic storebrand item over the more expensive, but clearly superior name brand. "Don't be absurd Emma. You want them to get a good start, right? What better to convey a sense of serious and freedom than the actual documents themselves. Why—"

Whatever he was going to say next, I didn't know for he suddenly stopped in his tracks, right outside the Tardis and back under the eerie blue light of Varigatia. Peering over his shoulders, I could see the reason why.

He had still been admiring the Declaration on the way out, with the top bit unrolled ever so slightly. However, right above the title words of the documents, were another set of words— actually a string of numbers with an X and an O at the end followed by a kiss—that hadn't been visible before in the Tardis, and only the weird ultraviolet light of Variagatia could reveal.

I didn't see it long enough to memorize the numbers, but I saw enough, and due to the signature of a kiss and the Doctor's white face, I had a fair guess of what it was.

"What do you know, National Treasure was kinda right after all," I joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Let me guess, Miss Hell in Heels?"

He confirmed my suspicions with a nod of his head. "Well, more like Mrs. Hell in Heels at this point. Do me a favor Emma, and don't mention the part about licking the grass to her, got it?"

"Got it."

Well, unless she asked of course.

 ***Author's Note***

I didn't mean to go this long without an update, but that's life for you.

Varigatia, its inhabitants, class system, Trothal flower, etc... are all my own, and to my knowledge do not exist in Doctor Who. The inspiration for this chapter came from one of the series 5/6 episodes (can't remember the specfic one at the moment) when the Doctor licks a blade of grass to figure out where/when he is to show off to Amy and Rory. I couldn't help but think, and what if that went wrong and nearly killed him? Hence this chapter with Emma doing everything herself pretty much.

Next chapter will hopefully be posted sooner rather than later, but will still take a while since I want to do some more research on the American Revolution. It's called 'Turncoat', and here's a little bit:

 _A wide grin spread across his face as he took in the sight of the Doctor. "I'm extremely pleased to see you here Doctor, and I must admit I've been hoping for your arrival for a while. My ears have heard quite a few tales of England being in dire straits, only for you to show up at the last minute and help her vanquish her foes. We must certainly could use your help in these trying times."_

 _The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Yes well, you know me, always glad to help. So who exactly am I supposed to help vanquish this time?"_

 _"Oh Doctor, you must surely jest. Why who else, but the rebel scum?"_

Thanks for reading, and if possible, leave a review.


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